You're on Your Own, Pal Part 2
by leafs nation
Summary: Here comes the sequel! Two years have passed since Lee told Clem to run off with Lilly and Duck, and she's become much more resilient to the horrors of their world. But as she stumbles upon a cabin group out in the woods, and runs into some other familiar faces, can she still come out of this unscathed? AU, Completed!
1. Two years later

_Two years later…_

"Oh thank god," I whisper as I rush over to the stream and cup my hands together. The water feels so refreshing as I splash my face with it; as if a lifetime's worth of dust and grime is suddenly just washing away. It's barely visible, due to the constant flow of water rippling as it goes over rocks and such, but I can see my reflection for the first time in weeks.

My hair's shorter now, a lot shorter due to Lilly's concern that it might get grabbed if I didn't trim it a little bit. At first it felt wrong – as if I was abandoning everything about me from before, now including my hair. But over time, I came to realize that she had been right. Lilly was right about a lot of things these days. And, now that I think about it, I actually like my hair shorter. It suits me I think.

"Clem?" I turn around to see Duck walking up towards me, a small smirk on his goofy-looking face. At least his charm didn't wear off completely after… all that.

"Lilly's been looking for you."

"Why?" I ask, wiping my hands on my jeans.

"I dunno, something about dinner I think."

"I thought it was your turn tonight?" I remark as we head back into the forest. Lilly taught us both how to cook any animals that we could find out here in the wilderness, but I just did that last night!

Duck got a bit taller over the past couple of years, and he wasn't quite as scrawny as when I had first met him. He had his mom's face for sure, and I could tell that he was going to develop some of his dad's behaviours. He already was starting to swear like a trucker when things went wrong. When he first started doing it, my old habits kicked in and I would immediately reprimand him for it. But after a while, I just stopped caring.

"I, uh, found some of your comics out near one of the trash bins," I mention, putting my hands inside of my pockets, "Did you want them back?"

"I'm not a little kid, Clementine."

This saddens me a little bit. Back at the motor-inn, Duck would talk my ear off about all of his favourite superheroes and what happened in some comic issue. Normally, I would just tune him out and pretend that I was really interested, while in reality I'd simply be drawing something. I even drew him a picture of Batman once, and I remember how he got so excited that he went around the camp and showed everyone what I made.

Now that he doesn't even care anymore, it kind of makes me wish for the old Duck back.

We arrive back at our little campsite to find Lilly putting in some rounds for the hunting rifle she always carried. She was very particular about how to do it, and she'd never let Duck or I go near it without her supervision.

"Brought her just like you said, boss," Duck joked, getting an eye roll from Lilly. Well, at least his sense of humor hasn't run completely dry.

"What did you want me to do?" I ask, noticing that Lilly already started the fire.

"Come see," she simply replies, "Duck, just keep that going alright? We'll be back in a bit."

"Aye aye, captain."

I giggle slightly as I hear Lilly give a big sigh before we head out.

All is quiet for a little while, but it's a nice silence. We're covered from the sun's rays by all of the pine trees out here, and there's a cool breeze that just sweeps through me. I close my eyes for a moment just to bask in the weather.

"Yoo-hoo? Earth to Clementine?"

Startled to see that she stopped a little ways before I did, I jog back over and hide in the bushes with Lilly. She's got the rifle out in front of her, and out of the corner of my eye I can see a pretty decently-sized deer, but she's not aiming at it. Confused, I turn towards Lilly, but she's already handing the gun to me.

"Really?" I ask, surprised that she'd let anyone let alone an eleven year old girl touch her gun.

"Gotta learn sometime," she responds, directing me on what to do. "Now look, it's basically the same idea as your pistol, but this thing's gonna have way more kick to it. Just line up the shot, hold your breath and try to keep it steady."

Doing as instructed, I close one eye and aim for the target. My confidence must've been building, because suddenly I feel as though I can do anything.

Don't kill my moment, please?

I pull the trigger, and the gun sends me backwards onto the ground. At this point I'm preparing to hear Lilly yell something about not treating her equipment like a toy, or something about wasting a bullet, but it never comes. Looking up, I see Lilly actually surprised, though she's not actually looking at me.

"Did I get it?"

"Yeah, Clem. I'm impressed – you just bagged us a dinner for tonight."

We drag the thing back to camp, where Duck is eyeing it hungrily, and Lilly takes it behind some trees to skin it and dress it so that we can eat. Nothing can burst my bubble now; I feel like I'm the queen of the hunt or something silly like that.

But I don't show it on my face, as usual. That's how it's usually gone – I'd bottle up my feelings and then maybe let some of it leak out when nobody's around. It's what I've been doing for about two years now.

It's what I did after Lee got bit and I saw my parents.

You don't know how many nights I'd stay up and think about that horrible day. I'd never experienced anything like it before, and I doubted that I ever would again (or at least not nearly as traumatic as it was).

But not once did I ever say anything to my two companions. After all, they've got enough problems without having to hear mine, right?

"It's getting pretty late," Duck mentions, looking up at the sky which was quickly turning to a dark orange. "The fire's gonna die if we don't do something."

Nodding my head, I absentmindedly stir up the embers with a stick as I think of our options. It had rained earlier this afternoon, so most of the wood was too damp for us to burn. And it's not as though we can use a license plate that I saw earlier.

Honestly, I don't remember when exactly we made it up to North Carolina. I didn't really pay attention where we were going, and I doubt that Duck did either. We just followed Lilly. If she made a wrong turn (which she'd never admit to), then we wouldn't even know. The only thing I knew was that we were trying to get up to some camp called Wellington, wherever that was. Supposedly it's a safe enough place to be, and that sounded better than scrounging around in the woods. Just as long as we stayed out of Georgia, I didn't mind very much. Too many bad memories there.

"Alright, I think it's only fair that Clem gets first dibs on the meat. Which piece do you want, Big Game Hunter?"

I could get used to that.

We eat our victory meal in silence, with the occasional banter between Duck and I. But Lilly doesn't say a word. By the time we finish up dinner, Lilly has already stood up and said that she'd take watch. Duck's fallen asleep near the fire pit, which thankfully he'd had the common sense to put out before he fell asleep.

Once again, he's forgotten his blanket over by the tent. Not wanting the guy to freeze to death, I bring it over and place it over his sleeping form, smiling as he shifts a little bit. He seems really peaceful now, as if the horrors of the world we live in don't even apply anymore. If only that were true.

A part of me thinks that I should just leave Lilly alone, but the rest argues otherwise. She's had plenty of moments to herself, and I want to see if something's bugging her.

It's weird, believe me, I know. Before this, when Lee was still around, I barely remember uttering a single word to her. She always treated me fairly, and we weren't on any bad terms at all. But she would often erupt into a fit of shouting matches, mostly with Kenny. As a result, I tended to stick near Lee and Carley, and try my best not to get involved.

How things have changed since then.

"Are you okay?" I ask, taking a seat beside her on a log that's not too far from our camp. She's got huge bags under her eyes, and I can't really blame her. Lilly's done the lookout duty for three nights straight.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" There it is, avoiding the question again. This is how it usually went down.

"What bed?" I joke, but not really at the same time. My "bed" consists of a leaf pile that I had put together. "Seriously, what's up?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"Fine," I sigh, standing up to leave. That usually does the trick.

"Clem, wait," There it is! "I'm sorry. Just a little on edge lately."

"What about?"

"Just… my dad, mostly."

Huh. That's new. She never opened up about her family to me, ever. Occasionally I'd catch her muttering something about what her dad would do in this situation, but that's about it.

"Funny that I'm still thinking about it, huh?" she remarks, as if reading my mind. I catch the faint glimpse of a smile on her features, but it's a sad smile. Clearly she too has spent many nights thinking about the meat locker.

Instead of saying anything, I just let her continue. What words would I have to offer anyway? My parents didn't get a salt lick dropped on their head….

_Sigh._

Thinking about them still tears at my insides from time to time. It's hard to remember that they were people once too, just like me. There have been plenty of times where I wish that I could talk to them again – to have my dad hold me in his big, strong arms, and have my mom read me a bedtime story like she used to back home.

But then, the nightmares come. Those are terrible. The horrifying thing about them is that they're all real, too. I'm standing outside that stupid gate, and I can't say a word as my mom takes a bite out of Lee's arm…

Feeling Lilly wrap an arm around my shoulder, I tense up at first. This was really unfamiliar territory for me. Lilly never showed any signs of affection towards anyone – not even her own father from what I could see. But she must've noticed how down I looked. Remember that part about emotions sometimes leaking out? Yeah.

Instead of questioning it further, I lean my head against her and shake a little as a couple of stray tears threaten to fall. As usual though, I force myself not to cry. I've put on this charade of the tough, little survivor girl for two years now, and I'm not going to lose that now. Especially not in front of the other toughest girl I know.

"Do you think he made it out?"

I can feel her tense up slightly as I ask it, as if that question is the thing we've been avoiding for so long and just all of a sudden has stepped out into the sunlight. Lilly knew exactly who I was talking about.

"I don't know Clem," she answers honestly, and the few tears left in me trickle down my cheek. I let him down that day. It's all my fault.

Suddenly, a couple of rounds are fired off nearby, and both of us immediately stand up. Grabbing my pistol, I follow Lilly back towards our camp, praying to whoever was listening that Duck would still be there.


	2. Can't get much worse

Why does it have to be so damn dark outside? I can barely see a thing as we sprint back to where the shots were coming from, and I accidentally trip over an exposed tree root while Lilly keeps on going. My knee is scraped, and it kind of stings, but I'll have time to clean up the wound later. Jesus, I hope he's alright.

"Duck!" I frantically call out, hoping that he'd respond with some sarcastic remark telling me to mind my own business. But of course, I don't hear anything. As I stop in the campsite to catch my breath though, I see that neither of them are here. What the hell's happening?

"Lilly? Duck? Come on guys, where are you?"

The blanket I placed on Duck is sitting in the dirt, but thankfully I don't see any blood stains or anything like that. Maybe he got out! Maybe…

"Oh shit…" I mutter as two walkers suddenly come out from behind one of the trees and slowly walk towards me. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate those things?

_Just stay calm, and don't let them get the jump on you. You'll be fine,_ I hear Lilly coach in my head. We've dealt with this kind of situation before, but we've always stuck together. Lilly drilled it in our heads constantly to not get separated, and to always watch each other's backs.

So much for that, Lilly!

Not bothering to check how bullets I have left in this thing, I hide behind a stump and start popping off rounds into their heads. The first one takes three bullets to go down, but after I adjust to the darkness a bit the second walker just takes one bullet. There's no time to lose now. I come out of my position and start combing the woods for any sign of my companions.

Just as I start to think that it couldn't get any worse, I hear the crack of thunder and a heavy rain begins to fall. Luckily, I'm mostly covered from the trees, but still. This is only going to make my problems that much worse.

"_Shit!_" I hear someone yell, and I can instantly tell that it's Duck saying those words. But where the hell is he shouting from?

Back into the woods I go, rubbing a spider web out of my face that I passed through when I wasn't looking. It was sooooo sticky, and I have to close my eyes while I was running in order to somehow rip it off. Hopefully I wouldn't have spiders in my hair after this. Now that would be creepy!

Spitting out some of the web that got caught in my mouth, I rub my face only to find that I'm mere inches away from a riverbank. The rain is a friggin downpour now, and I can see all of the tiny ripples escalating in the river.

"Clem! Behind you!"

I turn around to see that a group of those monsters have suddenly ganged up on me. How could I have not heard them all? Either way, I'm pretty much screwed at this point – armed with a pistol that undoubtedly only had a few rounds left, and my small frame that could barely budge one of them, let alone a whole group.

Lilly's firing bullets now, desperately trying to buy me some time. Duck's appeared now too, but I can't tell if he's wounded or not because of how far away he was. But it's not going to be any use.

"Just run!" I yell, pulling the trigger and putting my last two bullets into a walker's brain. Of course Lilly argues and tells me to hold on, but due to the stupid rain I slip on a rock and go tumbling down.

"CLEMENTINE!" I hear both of them yell as I fall into the murky depths of the river. I must've fallen on something sharp, as I can feel a sharp pain riding up into my side. But that's the least of my worries.

Now, it's pretty unfortunate, but I kind of skipped a lot of my swimming lessons when I was younger. My mom always insisted that I should take them in case I fell overboard on a boat or something, but not once have I ever been in one. I secretly thought she was being a hypocrite because she never learned how to swim, but I just kept that to myself.

Sure, I knew some of the basics. I mean, doggie paddling still counts, right? And as long as I didn't try to flop around too much, I always assumed that I'd be alright.

Well trust me: swimming in a public pool is a hell of a lot different from trying to swim against the current of a river. It sucks. A lot.

Oops! I suppose I need to breathe, don't I? Breaking through the surface of the water, I gasp as my lungs fill with all that delicious oxygen, and I struggle to just stay afloat. Lilly and Duck are gone – I can't even hear their frantic cries anymore, and it's too dark out to be able to see them anyways.

This is nothing like the Lazy River they have at the waterpark back home. Now that was fun. Maybe if I just lay on my back and let the current take me, I can just pretend that I'm sitting in my inner tube with my dad laughing along beside me. That was one of my fondest memories that I have about him, and it saddens me that there won't be any more.

Hell… maybe I'd get lucky and find a boat somewhere. I know that'd make Kenny happy if he were still around.

Geez, I sure am getting tired though. Whatever happened with my injury must be taking its toll now. I slip back underneath the waves and close my eyes…

"…umm, Nick? I don't think that's a fish…"

"No shit, man! Do you think it's a lurker?"

I can hear faint voices coming from some direction, but I don't move because I'm just so damn tired…

"Jesus, I don't know! There's blood on her shirt though."

"It. Lurkers are an "it", not a she."

Okay, whoever you are, if you're wanting to help, you need to come get me. Otherwise, hit the road. I feel suddenly peaceful here… wherever it is I am.

"Fucking hell dude, what are you doing?"

"Come on, Nick. Obviously she ain't a lurker. Her face is still intact."

"Whatever, man. I've got my gun ready."

"Don't shoot unless something bad happens!"

Feeling a pair of hands grasping onto my shoulders, I almost instantly open my arms and struggle to break free. What was I thinking? I'm not letting strangers take me, not again. Especially if it's a pair of hicks out in the woods. I don't want what happened to Mark to happen to me…

A rifle goes off, and instantly the pain from my abdomen becomes less intense. Or, at least it feels that way, because now my arm is on fire. Not literally. But you get the idea.

"AHHHH!" I scream at the top of my lungs, plunging back into the river and clutching my arm as tightly as I can. Bile comes up my throat as I examine the damage. The pain was extraordinary, but thankfully the guy who shot me can't shoot for shit because it only grazed it. There was still blood oozing out though, and it was disgusting.

"You fucking idiot!" I hear a man yell, and frankly I can't say that I blame him. "What are you thinking?!"

"You're the one who told me to shoot her!"

"I said if something BAD happens! Not as soon as she wakes up!"

One of the guys comes into the river and grabs a hold of my waist, dragging me back to shore. This time I can't escape, as I'm clutching my injury and trying not to bite the guy's head off at the same time.

"L-Let me go!" I yell, glaring at the sand as I fall. I must be looking pretty silly like this, with me face-down in the dirt and my hat covering my eyes from their view (I'm still surprised that it stayed on my head the whole time), but I don't care. I just want to get back to Lilly and Duck.

For a few seconds, I don't hear anything, so I look up slightly and hope they've somehow left. But of course, as my luck would have it, there's a man bent down in front of me. I'm not always the best judge of people, but he seemed to be in his twenties, with long brown hair, an orange shirt and a sympathetic look about him. I don't think he's the one who shot me.

"You alright kid?" he asks, and as I glare at him he scratches the back of his head sheepishly. What does he think my answer is?

I roll over on my side like a little kid and try my best to stand, but it's no use. My legs are gelatin and my upper body feels like pudding. Plus, with my stomach and now my arm in such tremendous pain, I wouldn't make it two miles before passing out. Awesome.

"Come on, Nick. Help me pick her up."

"Fuck no! Not with that bite she's got!"

How dumb is this guy? Seriously!

"I don't think she's bitten, dude. Look, if you're not gonna help, just get back to the cabin. Tell Carlos to be ready."

"Whatever," I hear Nick mutter, and at this moment I swear I have enough rage to strangle him. He has a maroon baseball cap on, a t-shirt overtop of his long-sleeved undershirt, and camouflage pants. I can already tell he's an asshole.

Look at me, swearing like it's just a regular thing for me! Clearly I spent too much time around Duck.

Silently, the seemingly nice man scoops me up in his arms, and I don't even try to fight him this time. Instead, I simply close my eyes and cringe every so often from the pain. Man, this hurts!

"Look, I know this is a bad time," he says in heavy breaths as he runs, "but what the heck are you doing out here? We found you caught in our fish traps."

"Why… should I tell you…"

"Well, frankly, our group's gonna want to know."

Inwardly I groan heavily. Personally I don't think he deserves any sort of explanation. But if what he said was true, that they have a doctor with them, then I don't exactly have much of a choice.

"Fine," I mutter, only slightly opening my eyes, "My friends and I got attacked by walkers. I slipped and fell into the river, and I need to find them, okay?"

"And that really ain't a bite on you?"

"What do you think?"

For a couple of seconds, I can tell that he's debating on whether to trust me or not. The doubt is practically swimming in his eyes, and at this moment I'm thinking he might just cut me loose and send me out on my own. But instead, he sighs and keeps on running.

"Alright, but if you're lying then I can't help you. Just so ya know."

"I don't need your help…" I whisper low enough so that he can't hear me. I've survived out here for two years, and even though I was technically in a small group, that doesn't mean I can't take care of myself.

Although it would be nice to get all patched up. They owe me anyways for the arm.

Speaking of which…

"Urgghhhh…"

"Fuck, I'm sorry about Nick. He's a bit jumpy at the best of times. But I promise I'll get Carlos to get a look at it alright?"

Falling silent again, I gaze upon my injured arm and gasp. It hurts like you won't believe, but this guy assures me that we're going to get there soon.

"By the way… didn't catch your name," he asks me as we approach a log cabin. There's nothing special to it from the outside really, but it seems secure enough. I wonder how they managed to find it in the first place.

"Clementine," I respond quietly, telling him that I should be able to walk inside. To be honest, having to be carried through the woods by a stranger was rather humiliating.

"Well, I'm Luke. Nice to meet ya."

Rolling my eyes, he places me down and I adjust to standing. It feels as though I'm learning to walk all over again. Together we walk up to the front porch where we're met by a mix of pissed off, concerned and suspicious gazes.

"Why the hell did you bring a girl here?!" asks an obviously pregnant woman. So much for the welcoming party.

"Ask Nick," Luke glares sharply.

"Fuck off man! She was up and jumping around! I thought she was a lurker!"

"Just tell us what happened, son," says an older-looking man, placing a hand on Nick's shoulder, but the boy quickly shrugs it off and mutters something that I can't understand. Does he seriously not feel the least bit bad right now?

"Let me take a look," says a Hispanic man with a heavy accent. He's got a patchy-looking beard and a plaid, yellow shirt on. I look over to Luke for reassurance, and he just nods towards him. Firstly, I roll up my sleeve to reveal the gunshot wound, and I have to restrain myself from screaming as he lays he fingers upon it.

"How did you get shot?" he asks without much emotion, and with as menacing a glare I can possibly cook up, I turn my head towards Nick, who for his part seems pretty unfazed. Asshole…

"Hmm… anything else you need to show me?"

Sighing heavily, I figure I might as well get this over with. Lifting my shirt up slightly reveals a large cut on my stomach, and unfortunately it looks mighty suspicious. But I _wasn't bitten! _Couldn't they tell the difference between a bite and a cut?

"Whatever it was, it got you good."

Guess they can't.

"Carlos," Luke comes up to talk to the man, "she told me what happened. We found her in one of the fish traps, probably was like she says. She hit some rocks and got knocked unconscious."

"We can't take any chances."

"So, what then?"

"We wait," he answers lowly, not even bothering to look at me. "By tomorrow morning, if the fever's set in, we'll know if she's gonna turn. Until then, lock her in the shed."

I'm about to protest, but Luke already beats me to it.

"Jesus, Carlos, look at the kid! Nick fuckin' shot her arm, for God's sake! The least we can do is patch her up."

"We can't waste the supplies on a bite, Luke," Nick warned, clutching his rifle and looking at the ground.

"What's your problem, anyways?!" I yell, the first thing I've said since everyone got out here. They must have all thought I was a mute or something.

"Clem, come on…"

"NO!" I interrupt Luke. It's not that I don't appreciate what he's trying to do, but I can fight my own battles. "If you leave me in there, I'll die."

"And why would that be our problem again…" I hear the pregnant lady mumble, and before I can yell Luke pats my shoulder, signalling to just let it go.

Right now, I'd give anything to be just barely scraping by and holding on for dear life with Lilly and Duck. It'd be a heck of a lot better than dealing with _these _people.

I don't really catch the rest of what they're saying, since I'm stuck in my own little world, but I get the gist of it. Most of the cabin group has their hand up, with the exception of Luke and that older fellow I heard earlier, which could only mean one thing.

I was going to die in a friggin' shed tonight.

Luke walks with me towards the ratty-looking building with Nick the Dick right behind us, and all the while I'm thinking, _How did this happen? _I shouldn't be here right now!

"My arm and my stomach _really _hurt," I complain to Luke, hoping that he'd somehow feel bad and try to get me some stuff for it.

"I don't know what to tell ya," he says a little bit more loudly than I expected him to, "But just hold out the best you can, okay? We'll fix you up in the morning."

Sighing, I walk inside as Nick turns to leave. Luke seems to as well, but he stops just before and walks into the shed like he's trying to find something. Confused, I raise an eyebrow and examine the shelves. What does he want, the life preserver or one of the fishing rods?

"Under the cabin," he whispers, not looking at me, "there's a little secret passageway the rest of 'em don't know about."

"What –" I start, but he cuts me off as he turns to leave.

"Meet me there in an hour."

With that, he sadly shuts the shed doors behind him, and leaves me with a lot to think about.


	3. Caught

Getting out of the shed wasn't… terribly hard. Sure, it was damp, dark and dirty, but it clearly hadn't been maintained in a long time. I managed to grab a hammer just in time before the whole board collapsed, and then I kicked open a loose panel to break outside.

The hard part now was getting to Luke, wherever he was.

I'm really not sure why he told me earlier to meet him under the cabin. I mean, what was the point in him doing this? I wasn't anything to him – just some random kid in the woods who for the rest of his group seemed to be sucking away their air. Was he doing this out of guilt? Or did he actually _care _about my wellbeing?

…no, that couldn't have been it. As Lilly told me a hundred times, the only person you can count on in this world is yourself.

After we had left Savannah, Lilly insisted that we not take in anymore people. Three was the magic number apparently, and we didn't need to draw attention to ourselves. There was one incident last year that I remember vividly…

_Flashback…_

_There was a mother with what appeared to be a very young and very sickly-looking child walking towards us along the side of the train tracks. We had just come back from an old convenience store that unfortunately got picked clean by scavengers, so we weren't the happiest bunch of campers that day by any means. _

"_Don't even acknowledge them," Lilly stated, her pistol already out of its holster and held lazily down at her side. _

_I grimaced, really wanting to speak my mind, but with Lilly's determination to get us north and Duck's indifference, there wasn't really much point of arguing._

_So, I kept my head down and tried to avoid what was coming next._

"_Please, I beg you! Do you have any supplies I could give to my son?! He's really sick and needs help!" _

_Inside, I felt kind of ashamed of what we were doing, but I knew that over the course of the last year or so, the rules had changed. Right and wrong were often mistaken as a dull, grey area._

"_I can see some water bottles on you! Please… just a couple would save us…" I could feel her hand grasping onto my wrist, and instinctually I reeled back. Being as persistent as this lady appeared to be, she refused to let go._

"_We need something! Anything!"_

"_Get off her, NOW." Lilly growled, her pistol at the lady's temple and mere seconds from pulling the trigger. But still she held her grasp on my arm, only this time it was tight enough to feel uncomfortable. _

"_I-I need it…" she breathed, starting to drag me off to the side._

_Without as much of a warning, Lilly shot out two bullets. The first made its mark in the woman's head, and the second… straight at the young boy. Duck didn't even flinch, and I was surprised that even I wasn't quite as fazed as I ought to have been._

_Lilly bent down, opened up the lady's jacket and pulled out all of her supplies. "Fucking liar," she spat, yanking some food and ammunition off of her lifeless body. "She had a whole bunch of stuff on her."_

"_Lilly…" I whispered, still looking down at the dead boy on the ground._

"_Kid was bit."_

"_What?"_

_She rolled down the boy's collar to reveal a large bite mark that ran down to his collarbone. _

_I didn't want to think about what we were becoming…_

Thankfully, that was just a phase, it seemed, as whenever we'd see another group of survivors, we'd simply head in another direction. But that one day had forever burned itself into my head. I just hope that I won't have to go through something like that ever again.

Alright, what was I doing again? Oh yeah, getting underneath the cabin.

The moonlight is the only source of visible light I have other than the candles they kept lit inside. Luckily, I'm tip-toeing quietly enough so that absolutely nobody knows that I'm out – not even the walkers that I can see skulking around.

Good thing that I decided to bring the hammer from the shed along with me! The loose panel leading to what I can only assume leads to this "not-so secret passageway" comes off relatively easily as I pry the nails out. A part of me can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins at the thought of sneaking out, but another is dreading the worst-case scenario. If Luke just abruptly decides to sell me out, I may as well throw myself to the dead. The walkers would be much more forgiving I think…

Sure enough, there's a hatch that leads into the cabin, but there's no way for me to open it down here.

_Here goes nothing, _I think nervously, raising my hand before knocking three times on the metal door.

I hear some shuffling and the sound of someone undoing a lock, but what I hear next makes my blood turn cold.

"Luke, house meeting in five minutes!" calls Carlos, obviously very close to where Luke was.

"Yeah, got it."

"Why are you in here anyway?"

"Oh," I hear him stammer ever so slightly, and at that point I think that I'm screwed. Carlos will find out and that'll be it. But luckily, Luke recovers. "Just trying to tidy up a bit in here. Plus I'm trying to reinforce the lock on this thing. She's been busted since we got here."

"Hmm… alright, well you can deal with that later. We're meeting in the kitchen, come on."

"Sure, just let me get my stuff together."

After a few seconds of holding my breath (and my hammer), I let it out as Luke opens the hatch. He sticks his head out and smirks.

"Howdy, Clem."

"Please tell me you've got something," I breathe out. My injuries certainly don't feel any better than they did before.

"Sure do," he responds, showing me a long piece of string for stiches, a needle, a bottle of peroxide and some bandages. "I'd help you out with those, but I've got to get back before I –"

"Get noticed?"

See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Luke and I both know who's standing behind him, and it's just like a teenager trying to sneak out after curfew. Only this time it means that I might as well give Carlos the gun to just end it for me right now.

"Look Carlos, I can explain…" Luke tries to say, but Carlos interrupts him.

"Do you have any idea what this means, Luke?!" he yells, attracting the attention of some of the other inhabitants. "Giving her those supplies without the group's consent is the same as stealing! How are we supposed to keep you around now? Especially near my daughter?!"

Wait, is he threatening to kick Luke out? He can't do that! This was my fault, not his! In fact, it's everyone's fault except his. Me for breaking out, Nick for shooting me in the first place, Carlos for not just _helping _me in the first place, and the rest of this sorry lot for locking me in a god-damned shed!

"No!" I muster the courage to say, even though I can't really see them from this angle. "Don't blame him! I was the one who came up with the idea…"

"Clem…" Luke tries, but I cut him off. I know that was a lie, but I'm not letting him take the fall.

"I was going to take stuff, and I'm sorry. I really am."

"What the fuck does your apology mean to us? We should just send you out there on your own right now!"

"Rebecca, Jesus!" the older gentleman berates. At least one other person can support me.

"I get it – you're angry, and probably scared. But so am I! That shed is a deathtrap!"

"Luke, close the door," Carlos orders, and with that, whatever sympathy I may have had for this group is gone. I turn around and start to make my way out. Luke calls out for me, but I don't turn back. There's nothing for me here.

_I have to look for Lilly and Duck, _I say in my head, still miffed that my wound won't get properly healed now. Maybe I can wrap it with some rope or something and just let my body do the rest. It'll probably hurt like hell, and hopefully it won't get infected, but that's my only option now. I can't go back to that awful place.

I'm cold, in the dark, and completely alone. And for a very brief period I thought that I might not have had to be. But my hopes are dashed as I crawl out from underneath and start to run. Deep, deep into the forest I go, clutching my stomach with one hand and holding onto my hammer with the other. Inside I've never been more scared in my entire life, but screw it! I feel like I can take on the world!

And then I realize what kind of world we live in now. My confidence drops immensely as two walkers stumble towards me. I know that I'm at a disadvantage, being much smaller and weaker than they are, but that also makes me more agile. As the first walker tries to grab a hold of me, I quickly duck out of the way and thrust my hammer down with a sickening crack. Well, that's one down anyways. Where'd the other one go?

"AHHHH!" I scream as I suddenly see it, but I'm one second too late. It tackles me to the ground, and I struggle to break away from its snapping jaws. There's only two thoughts going through my head right now:

_Is this how it all ends?_

And…

_What would Lee have done?_

Looking around, I quickly see a fallen tree branch – hopefully my saving grace. With all the power I can muster, I get some leverage and kick the walker off of me, but it doesn't go very far. Crawling on my stomach, I grasp onto the tree branch and whack the monster in the head, stunning it temporarily and giving me a chance to stand up. Again and again I bring it down on its head, causing blood to splatter all over my clothes and my face. I don't stop until it looks like a smashed pumpkin on Halloween.

"Clem? Where are you, kid? It's me, Luke – what the fuck happened here?" Quickly, not wanting to be dragged back there for my execution, I turn tail and run into the woods, wincing as the tree branches smack into my face.

Unfortunately, I don't get very far. Suddenly I feel really… sleepy. My eyes droop and my body starts rocking back and forth slightly. After all of today's nervousness and anxiety I realize just how sleep deprived I really am.

Oh great. Luke's coming, and I don't have the energy to hide. I'm sure he's saying something to me, but I don't hear a damn word. Instead, my vision grows blurry and I fall to the side, Luke cursing as I do so.


	4. Errands

"_Has anyone ever told you that you're kind of a dork?" I quip, my legs dangling from the tree as I watch Duck drag something through the dirt and occasionally make whooshing sounds. I smile as he glares at me. "Just saying."_

"_What's wrong with being a dork?"_

"_Nothing, nothing," I say, just trying to push his buttons at this point. "But don't you think you're a little old to be playing with toys?"_

_I squint my eyes to see as he holds a little figurine of some sort in his hand to show me. I don't know why, but it looks so familiar…_

"_This ain't just any car, Clem," he dramatizes, rubbing the dirt off like it's some kind of ancient artifact. "She's a beauty! A real collector's item, and I totally forgot that I had it with me!"_

"_Hey wait a second! Duck, that was from the Monopoly game we had at the motor-inn!"_

"_How do you even remember that?" he asks with a raised eyebrow._

_Wiping the dirt off my jeans as I jump off the tree, I snatch the car from him as he protests. "Because you kept complaining about not getting to be the race car. You totally stole it, though! Ugh, if only you could've taken the rest of the game, too."_

"_It wouldn't have fit in my bag," he replies flatly, already having given up on trying to take it back from me._

"_Would've fit in the RV…" I say bitterly, but I cringe as I realize what I just reminded the both of us of. "Sorry, Duck. I didn't mean it."_

"_It was our fault," he shook it off, leaning his head back to look at the clouds. "Mom's dead 'cause we took off without you guys, and now Dad's gone too…"_

"…_maybe he made it out."_

_Duck sighs and shuts his eyes as a few tears run down his face. I feel so bad for the guy, but one of the best things about Duck is how much we can relate to each other now. Neither of us have parents anymore. Absentmindedly I twirl my foot around in the dirt, distracted in my own little world._

"_Keep it," he tells me, gesturing to the little toy car in my hand._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah, I stunk at that game anyways."_

_We both break off into a little fit of giggles at that. Yeah, he was pretty bad._

As I'm sitting on the couch in the living room of the cabin, having just woken up, I twiddle with the race car in my hand. What seemed so insignificant at the time was now one of my most treasured possessions, aside from my torn photo of Lee and (of course) my hat. I held onto these things for dear life.

I don't remember coming inside at all. Glancing around the room, I don't see anybody or hear much at all, but there's a light coming from what I can only assume is the kitchen. People must be asleep at this point.

Paranoid as I am, I check to make sure that they didn't take any of my limbs off or perform any weird experiments on me. Looks like the coast is clear, as the only thing I can see are… bandages? Wow, after all that, Carlos finally gave in. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who must have convinced him to do it.

Speaking of which…

"Oh, you're up! I was starting to wonder if you'd make it," Luke was joking, at least I hope he was. He walks over to me with a bowl of some kind, and I can already smell the food from here.

"It's oatmeal, if you're wondering," he states, placing it on the coffee table in front of me. "Figured you'd be hungry after passing out like that."

"How long was I out for?"

"About a day or so, I reckon."

Holy cow!

Taking the first spoonful, I adjust my knees underneath the blanket so that it won't fall all over the floor. "Thanks," I mention between mouthfuls, "you didn't need to do all this for me."

"Come on, Clem, it's the _very _least I could do. You've been through more shit than a lot of us already," he scratches his head and leans back in his chair, sighing. "Plus, after the way we acted… well, it wasn't _us_. I mean, I know we did it and all, but…"

"Luke, it's okay," I smile as he struggles for words, "I get it. You don't have to continue."

The man slowly nods and folds his hands together, leaning forward in thought. Obviously he's still got more to say. I take another scoop of oatmeal while I wait for him to speak his mind. Man, whoever knew that oatmeal could taste so good! I used to _hate it _when I was a kid.

"So… what are you planning to do? After all this I mean."

"I need to look for Lilly and Duck," I answer quietly, not really looking him in the eye. I'm not particularly worried about them, just because I know what they're capable of doing. But you never know these days.

"They're the people you were with right?" Luke asks like he already knows the answer. "Look, kid, I hate to break it to you, but these are some big-ass woods around these parts. If you go off on your own looking for them, it'll just be like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"I can't give up on them!"

"Would you know where they might have gone off to then?"

Yes, I remember now. Lilly was always talking about going north, but what was it called again?

"Wellington," I respond after a while as the name of it comes to me. "I think it's a camp up north somewhere."

"Can't say I've heard of it myself, but I think you've got a better chance of finding them if you're with us."

Did he get hit in the head or something?

"Are you serious? Do you really think the rest of them will just let me into the group?"

"It'll take some time, but yeah. I do," he replied, stretching his arms out and stifling back a yawn. "I'm gonna hit the hay. There's a couple of books there if you feel up to it, and uh… if you're feeling up for it and Carlos says it's alright, did you wanna come with Alvin and I hunting tomorrow?"

"Who's Alvin?" I ask, hoping it's not one of the people that wanted me to leave.

"Nicest guy you'll ever meet." Well, so much for that.

I nod my head in agreement as he smiles and heads upstairs. Maybe things won't be so bad after all.

…or not, here comes my _favourite person ever. _

"You're up now huh?" Nick awkwardly asked, rubbing his arm and standing shyly outside the door. "Figured you'd be still be passed out on the couch."

I don't even acknowledge his presence. Instead, I pick up one of the books on the coffee table and turn to page one. Hmm… what the heck is a "Gurgle"?

"Look, I know you're pissed. Hell, I would probably be even more so if I was you. Could you please just hear me out?"

Sighing, I put the book down and fold my arms across my chest. Okay, asshole, you've got part of my attention. But I refuse to give all of it to you.

Nick sits in the same chair as Luke did, and does the same stupid folded hands thing that he did too. What is this, a therapy session? Geez, I hope the rest of the night doesn't continue this way.

"I know I fucked up. Real, real bad," Now there's a start. "And I'm sorry for… you know, shooting you and stuff."

_You're lucky your aim is so bad, _I think bitterly, and it comes across on my face. Nick doesn't seem to notice this though.

"It's just… we've had a bad experience once."

"We've all had bad experiences," I scoff, slightly ticked that he'd have the stones to say that to me. "What makes yours so much more tragic than everyone else's?"

"I had to kill my mom."

Ouch. That would hurt like hell, I'll give him that. I don't feel like telling him about what happened to my parents or Lee or any of them, so I put on a sympathetic frown and tell him I'm sorry.

"Well," he says, standing up, "hopefully you understand."

"I get it, yeah."

With that, he nods and turns to leave, eerily similar to how Luke left just minutes ago. But as Nick is about to reach the foot of the stairs, I stop him.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you try shooting somewhere else next time? I don't feel like getting shot at again."

Seeing the faintest of smirks upon his face, he turns to me and he says, "I'll try to keep that in mind."

_Later…_

It took a lot of convincing from Luke, but Carlos finally agreed to let me go off with him and Alvin for the day. Carlos was reluctant to say the least, and he made it perfectly clear that he didn't trust me. Can't say I blame him, but then again, if Luke is serious about me staying with them, then Carlos is going to have to trust me. His daughter seemed nice enough; a bit naïve perhaps but she seems like good company. I'll have to get to know her better when we get back.

True to Luke's word, Alvin was indeed a nice guy. He immediately apologized on the group's behalf this morning, and he even cooked me up some breakfast in good faith. I don't know how they managed to get them, but I actually had _eggs _for breakfast this morning! They're a delicacy these days, and I savored every last bite.

Rebecca would take some getting used to, that was for sure. She wasn't quite as hostile towards me as she was last night, but every time we made eye contact it felt like hell had frozen over. It sent shivers down my spine, but I held firm. I promised myself that I wouldn't break in front of these people, and I for damn sure won't back down against her. Luke mentioned that eventually she'd cool off, but I told him that if she got any cooler she'd turn into a walking freezer. He didn't find the joke nearly as funny as I did.

It was a shame, but I never really got to talk to Pete. He was Nick's uncle, that much I knew, but other than that I knew nothing. He and Nick were off checking the fish traps this morning.

I told Nick that I never wanted to go near those again. He really didn't argue.

"Where are we going?" I ask, jogging to catch up with Luke and Alvin.

"There's a little convenience store up the road a ways," Alvin answers, putting his hands in his pockets. "Nobody seems to know about it, so we keep some of our leftover meat in the cold storage area near the back."

"Are there ever any walkers around?" I question, not totally convinced that a miracle like this could be without possible consequences. Nothing is ever that easy.

Luke shrugs his shoulders – should I take that as a good thing or a bad thing?

"We'll run into the occasional pack or stray, but it ain't nothing we can't handle."

"So where are you from, Clem? We don't really know much about you," Alvin asks, turning his head towards me. Uh oh, this is exactly what I don't want happening. The more I reveal about my past, the more connected I become to these people. The more connected you become, the easier it is to be heartbroken. So, I decide not to give away too much info.

"Georgia," I reply simply, kicking over a stone. "I guess the road's my home now though."

"Damn, that's too bad. Was it, uh, infested with lurkers or something? 'Cause I don't think you'd be up here otherwise," Luke remarks, trying to pry me open like a pickle jar. Something inside of me wants to tell them what happened to our group, just to let it all out and get it off my chest. But I've been around Lilly for a very long time, and it seems that I've adapted to some of her old habits of shutting people out. She didn't around Duck or I, but still.

"Yeah… just wanted to head up north for safety. Too many bad memories in Georgia."

Dang it, I really shouldn't have let that slip. Luke's giving me that sympathetic look again, and Alvin seems like he doesn't know what to say. Luckily, they seem to realize that I don't want to talk about it right now, if ever.

"Convenience store's just up ahead," Luke calls, pointing to a little pathway between the trees. "Hopefully nothing's in there."

"Walkers?" I ask again, pulling out a pistol that Luke gave to me before we left.

"I doubt it – most likely rats. That's a big problem."

_So gross, _I internally gag. I've never liked rats or mice or anything of that nature. They just creep me out too much. But my old pet hamster? He was the best. I loved that little guy…

"Dale's Convenience" is what the sign reads as we walk in, the bell on the door ringing to announce our presence. It actually doesn't look too crappy in here – in fact, it would almost look untouched if not for the electricity not being on.

"How much do you take back?" I ask as I lean against a wall, watching Alvin go into the storage area and start putting some cans in a box.

"Enough for the week, I'd reckon. We try to ration the stuff as best we can. Speaking of which," Luke then turns to Alvin, who's still putting things inside the box, "How much do you think is left? I think we took a bit too much last week."

"It's getting pretty light, that's for sure. We should probably start looking for another place to get stuff from."

"We don't really have a lot of options man," Luke sighs, running a hand through his hair. He seems to do that a lot when something's bothering him. "Maybe we should start thinking about moving on."

"And go where? Finding the cabin was a stroke of luck, Luke. There ain't gonna be many places like it."

"It does seem pretty secure," I agree, pitching in my two cents.

"We can talk about it back at the cabin," Luke states, more so to Alvin than to me. "Clem? You alright to be our security guard out there?"

Laughing quietly, I nod my head and hold the door for them as they come out with a couple of boxes stocked with canned goods. I swear, it's like they're going to a food drive or something like that.

The walk back to the cabin is relatively quiet, at least on my part. Luke and Alvin are chatting away about whatever crosses their minds, and I give one or two word answers if they throw a question my way. I make up the excuse of being their security guard if they mention how quiet I am. I just tell them that I'm doing my job and leave it at that.

Walking through the front door, I see that Sarah girl that I mentioned earlier sitting on one of the couches, hunched over a game board of some kind. It seems odd, since she's just by herself, but maybe she's just reading over the rules or something. Sure as hell doesn't look like Monopoly though.

"Merry Christmas!" Alvin jokes as he brings his box through the door, and I have to restrain myself from laughing. In my head I can just picture him dressed up as Santa Claus with Luke as like his elf helper or something. My imagination is a little bit weird sometimes.

"Why don't you chill with Sarah while Alvin and I sort out the cans?" Luke suggests, and I awkwardly wave to Sarah as I sit down beside her.

"What are you playing?" I ask, looking at the various pieces around the board.

"It's called Risk," she answers cheerfully, "do you know how to play?"

And so, we spend almost the entire afternoon playing this game. If I had known just how long this would take, I may have suggested doing something else. But Sarah just seemed so… happy. Happy as in a kid who'd just gotten a puppy for their birthday, and I have to say it was kind of infectious. It was nice to be able to just be a kid for a change, though I still felt kind of guilty about it. Here I was, nice and cozy in a well-protected cabin, while Lilly and Duck are stuck out in the woods somewhere, probably barely scraping by.

"They've been gone way too long," I hear Luke say as he comes down the stairs. Carlos has been sitting in the chair next to his daughter, and I can't say that I haven't felt uncomfortable under his occasional stares.

"We should go look for them. They can't have gotten far," Carlos states, placing his book on the table and patting Sarah on the shoulder when she gives him a worried glance. "I should go with you."

"No, you need to be here. Watch over the girls in case…" Alvin stops halfway through for some reason that I don't know, but Carlos seems to understand.

"Alright, just be careful."

"You got it," Luke nods, giving one last look at me before heading out.


	5. Burnin' down the house

"Wanna look underneath the cabin with me?" Sarah asks, adjusting her glasses as she puts the board back in the box.

"Huh? Why?"

"I got a peek underneath the other day," she explains, getting a giddy expression that's eerily similar to what I used to be like. Weird, I know. "There's all kinds of old stuff down there, but I haven't gone through them all yet. Let's go take a look!"

Even if I were to argue, which I wasn't thankfully, Sarah probably wouldn't have heard it as she took my hand and practically dragged me to the room with the hatch inside of it. And, of course, Carlos just happened to be coming down the stairs as we were about to exit.

"Clementine, can I talk to you alone for a second?"

I look uneasily towards Sarah, but she smiles reassuringly, believing that I've got nothing to worry about. I wish I had her confidence…

Motioning for me to come into the kitchen, I follow and shut the door behind me, rubbing my arm in anticipation. It's a nervous habit I've picked up over the years, and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon.

"What did you need?" I ask uncertainly, noticing how Rebecca is leaning against a counter not far from us. They exchange a look before Carlos sighs and rubs his temple like he's got a headache or something. I didn't do anything this time, I swear!

"I need you to look after Sarah for me for a little while," he says, looking me straight in the eye. Now _that's _unexpected – wasn't it just a few days ago that he wanted to throw me out?

"Umm… okay," I answer, raising an eyebrow, "is everything alright?"

"Rebecca's worried that something's happened to Alvin, since they should've been back with the rest of them by now. All I need from you is to make sure Sarah stays safe. I'm willing to trust you with that,"

"Not sure why…" Rebecca mutters under her breath, and I glare at her. What's her problem with me?

"Just make sure you stay in the cabin, and you should be fine. Do this, and you'll prove to me that you can be trusted. Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, sure thing," I reply, slowly nodding my head. I still don't really know why I'm the one watching _her, _since I'm pretty sure she's like four years older than me. But if it means that I can stick around here without having to worry about someone shooting my head off, then I'll do it. "You can trust me."

"Thank you," he smiles, patting my shoulder, "we'll be back as soon as we can."

With that, they sprint out the front door in search of the rest of the cabin group. But I still have plenty of unanswered questions, like why are they acting so paranoid? And what could've happened to Nick and Pete?

"This is so cool!" I hear Sarah's muffled voice, probably getting excited over some old book or something. Clearly she's a much more avid reader than I am. Duck gave me one of his old comic books when I was bored once back at the motor-inn, and I secretly really enjoyed it, but I'd still prefer drawing something any day.

"What'd you find, Sarah?" I ask, dropping down the hatch underneath the cabin.

It wasn't much to look at now, but there was a pretty big pile in the corner filled with stuff that the previous owners must've collected. Old dolls, books, a few toys… oh, hello. Picking up the gun and examining it, I grunt as I see that there aren't any more bullets in it. Well, I suppose if worse comes to worse I can try bashing a walker with it…

"Say cheese!" she quickly calls out, and before I can blink she flashes a camera off, slightly blinding me. It takes me a moment for my eyes to adjust back to the murky darkness underneath the camera.

"Could you warn me next time?" I complain, but she doesn't seem to notice. Instead, she hands me the camera and pretty much forces me to take a picture of her.

Man, how hasn't this thing died? These cameras run on batteries, don't they?

Flashing a picture of her, she quickly stands beside me to examine the photos, but gives off a grunt since we can't see clearly enough down here.

"Hmm, let's go out near the trees. We can see better out there."

"Umm, shouldn't we go back in? Your dad kinda said not to leave the cabin," I mention, still holding the pistol at my side.

"We'll only be out there for a sec, and if we run into any trouble we'll just run back inside," she brushes off, starting to walk towards the light source. "Come on! This… way…"

I catch up to her and look around, confused as to why she's stopped. "Sarah? Everything cool – oof!"

She quickly covers my mouth and pushes me back into the shadows, and for a moment I almost let my survival instincts kick in. But she quickly lets go, and I can see the fear painted vividly in her eyes. She gives quick, short breaths and looks like she's about to have a nervous breakdown. What could be the matter?

I tiptoe as quietly as I can towards the opening in the fence and peek my head out, squinting my eyes as the sun slightly blinds me. Once my sight adjusts, I look around for any suspicious activity. At first I see nothing, and I'm about to go tend to Sarah, but then a figure comes walking towards the front of the house.

It's a man, that much is for sure. He's got a big fur-lined coat with greying hair and stubble, with cold, calculating eyes. At first, he pauses and looks into some of the windows as if he's expecting someone to gun him down right there, but after a while he walks up the front steps and out of my line of sight. I too disappear as I go back to Sarah.

"Who is that?"

"C-Carver… Clem, you have to make him go away!"

"How?" I whisper urgently, checking behind me every few seconds to make sure nobody else followed me in here. You can't be too careful.

"_Hello? Anyone here?" _I hear his muffled voice calling out, trying to get in through the front door.

"Clem… I can't breathe… oh my god, I can't…"

"Shh… Let's get back in and make sure he doesn't either," I say as I walk back to the hatch, but to my shock and horror, it won't budge. "Dang it! It's stuck!"

"I thought you said we could get back in through there!" she whispered, panic starting to grip her in its iron fist.

Suddenly, an idea comes into my mind. An extremely reckless, stupid, dangerous idea, but an idea nonetheless. I pull my pistol out in front and turn around to the hole in the fence.

"I thought that thing didn't have any bullets?" she asked in disbelief, obviously not too thrilled with my decision-making right now. Frankly, neither am I.

"Yeah," I say, looking back at her with a hard stare, "but he doesn't know that."

"_Are they even home?"_

WHAT THE HELL?!

"_Doesn't look like it. Either that or they're hiding somewhere. But it don't matter," _Carver explains calmly, _"Ben, come on, we're torching the place." _

No… it… it can't be him… Lilly told me he was dead!

"_I-I don't know about this, Bill. What if one of them is trapped inside? That'll just be murdering them!" _

"_Jesus, are you fucking kidding me? Would you grow a pair of balls already, kid? You know as well as I do that we have to get shit done, no excuses. That's how we survive out here. Besides, I already checked the main floor and upstairs, didn't see anyone."_

"Oh my god," I breathe out, "Sarah, we have to go now!"

"Where?!"

"_If this doesn't send them a message, I don't know what will," _Carver states, and that's the last I hear of him. The next thing I hear is the sound of crackling wood, and the smell of smoke in the air.

"Shit!" I whisper harshly, taking Sarah's hand and dragging her outside with me. "The fire's going to attract walkers!"

Within minutes, the house is ablaze, but thankfully it seems that Carver is gone. And so is… How is that even possible?

Never mind, we've got more important things to worry about right now. Looking around for any sort of safe shelter, I groan as my gaze lands upon that stupid shed. It's far enough away from the cabin that it shouldn't catch on fire (hopefully) but we need to move fast, as a number of walkers have already made their trip over here.

"In here!" I yell, slamming the door shut before a walker gets a hold of either of us.

All is quiet for a little while, with the two of us just trying to catch our breaths, when suddenly Sarah screams as a walker comes in through the hole I made the other night. Damn, I really should've thought of that.

Instinctually I look around, trying to find anything we can use and cursing the previous owners of the cabin for not having any bullets for their stupid gun. This rake would have to do, as I grab hold of it and start shoving it back towards the far wall. However, I'm only eleven years old, so my strength isn't exactly up to par.

"Sarah, help!" I yell out, and thankfully she grabs a hold of the end of the rake. Together, we use all of our strength to drive the beast back. It gets impaled on an anchor-type thing which I have no idea what it was used for, but it's still clawing about. Sarah pukes her guts out near the front door, but I'm basically unaffected. I've seen this kind of thing plenty of times sadly.

As if my luck hadn't already run dry before, I realize that there isn't anything small enough for me to use in order to crack its head with. Trying to hit it with the gun would be too risky, and I left that hammer back in the cabin.

_Time for the rake again… _I think with a sigh, knowing full well that Sarah isn't going to want to watch this.

With as much force as I can muster, I slam the sharp part of the tool down on the monster's head, but I can see that this is going to take a very long time. Whatever, it's not like we can just wait in the cabin…

_Thirty minutes later…_

"Huff… huff… come on, you! Just… go down already!" I groan as I launch another strike against the beast's head. Just a few more swings of this, and it should _finally _be as good as dead… well, for real this time. He won't be coming back after I'm through with him.

Its head is starting to look like a mix of spaghetti noodles and frozen hamburger, if that makes any sense. Part of its brain is falling out the side, and there's blood leaking everywhere. It's disgusting, but it has to be done. Nobody said killing walkers was easy.

With one last swing, I exhaustedly throw the rake to the side and lay on my back, struggling to catch my breath as I stare at the ceiling. I never realized just how dusty this room could get!

"Are… are you done?" Sarah whimpers, and her wavering voice reminds me so much of myself two years ago – terrified of walkers and trying my best to hide or run away. But in this world, it's only gonna get you killed. Still though, I don't think Carlos would appreciate me putting these thoughts into her head.

"Yeah," I answer hoarsely, "we got 'em."

As if right on cue, we hear the cabin survivors calling out our names desperately, and Sarah cautiously opens the shed doors. Standing there is everyone except for Pete, and I can only guess as to what happened to him. By the defeated look on Nick's face, I know that he's dead.

"Holy shit, are you two okay?" Luke asked, trying his best not to get pissed about the burned-out cabin.

The rest of the group was much more vocal about it.

"What the actual fuck happened here?!"

"How did you burn the whole cabin down?!"

"All of our shit was in there! Our food, our meds, everything! All fucking gone!"

"I tell you to watch after Sarah, and _this _is what happens?!" The last one was obviously from Carlos, and Sarah was hanging her head in disappointment. It must be tough having to hear that an eleven year old is looking after you when you're four years older than she is, but I was insulted.

"You actually think I did this?" I asked incredulously, "We were looking underneath the cabin, and we –"

"I trusted you. I trusted you, and you let me down. You let ALL of us down."

"NO I DIDN'T!" I practically scream, causing everyone to be silent. "Some people came to the cabin looking for you guys, Sarah says his name was… what was it? Carver or something?"

That put almost everyone in a snit, and I knew right there that Carver wasn't someone to be taken lightly. If he could do that, then what would be next?

"What are we gonna do?" Sarah asked, her dad coming over to reassure her.

"We have to leave now sweetie, before he comes back with more bad guys," Carlos explained before turning to me, "Clem… _sigh _I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions and just feared the worst after we saw the smoke. But you should come with us, if that's still what you want."

"Yeah," I said more confidently, "I'm with you guys."

Since there wasn't any real way of us retrieving things from the cabin, Luke and I volunteered to go back to the convenience store for one last supply run. We didn't run into any trouble thankfully, but the box that Luke gave me was pretty heavy, especially after having tried to kill that walker for half an hour.

"You sure you still wanna come with us? I mean, I'm surprised that you've put up with this shit for so long," he explains.

"I need to look for Lilly and Duck, so yeah," I sigh, getting a better grip on my box as we made our way back. "I just hope they're alright."

"They sound pretty capable to me, Clem. Don't worry, we'll find 'em."

"Luke…"

"Yeah?" he turns his head to get a look at me. This has been bugging me all afternoon.

"You said that you were a part of Carver's camp before, right?"

"Yeah… he was a total dickhead though. Always made the wrong choices, and he'd chew your head off if you thought otherwise."

"Well," I began, clearing my throat, "….actually, never mind. Let's just keep going."

"Umm… okay."

I didn't want to believe that Ben was helping Carver, so I didn't ask. Hopefully this will just all blow over, and we can finally find a place that's safe enough for us to stay in.

I'd hate to leave Luke and Sarah behind, but as always, Lilly and Duck are the top priority. 


	6. Learn to trust me

It's day three of our five day walk towards the mountains, and spirits are already faltering. Three times we had to stop as Rebecca had trouble moving around, which was understandable I guess. I have no idea what having a child is like, but just the thought of having another living person sitting inside of me makes me gag. Ugh… I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about it.

Whenever I try talking to Nick, he just grunts and brushes me off. I can tell he's under a lot of pain with the loss of his uncle, but it's a little disheartening that he won't talk to anyone. Luke keeps telling me that he'll come around, but I'm not so sure.

"Alright y'all, we'll rest here for the night," Luke announces, setting his food box down and passing out random cans to everyone. I end up with a can of beans, which isn't the _worst _thing in the world, I suppose. Thankfully this thing doesn't need a can opener, so I sit on a nearby stump and count my blessings. We've only been able to eat twice a day, and that's if we were lucky. Food was getting really scares.

Huh, sounds a heck of a lot like the motor-inn.

If you haven't noticed by now, I really miss my old group. Lee, Duck, Carley, Lilly, everyone. They didn't question me or see me as a threat like these guys have. I just wish things could go back to normal again, at least in those terms anyway. I know things won't ever go back to the way they used to be, without walkers or trying to survive.

But it'd be nice if I could find someone I could trust.

"Hey Clem," Luke says, standing above me and making me feel like the size of a mouse. "How ya holdin' up, kid? You seem pretty out of it today."

"I'm good," I fib, trying to make him drop it. But even though I've only known him for less than a week, I can already tell that he's stubborn.

"You know you can talk to me, you know that right? Come on, what's up?"

_Sigh… _does this guy ever quit?

"Just thinking about the people I've lost," I answer truthfully this time, looking slightly downcast. Luke seems to notice this, and he quickly makes an excuse for the two of us to scout out the road ahead for any activity, be it living or not.

I stick my hands in my pockets and debate on what to tell him. Trying to cover everything would be too time-consuming, and possibly a little confusing. There were so many people that he'd probably lose track of who I was talking about. So, I decide to go over the main people in my life… or at least the ones who _used _to be in my life.

"My parents died in Savannah," I start off sadly, "we went there to look for them, but they already dead."

"Wow… that's tough. I uh, I lost my folks too. I was staying with Nick and Pete for about two weeks before all this shit went down… found my parents dead at my house. They were getting eaten by lurkers as I busted through the door."

"I'm sorry, Luke. That's horrible."

"Can't be helped, but… I still miss 'em, you know?" As if he needed my confirmation – we both knew what it was like to lose everyone you've ever loved and still have to continue living.

"So… you said you were part of a big group before, right?" he changes the subject, giving me a sideways glance. "What happened?"

_Oh boy, this is gonna be fun… _I think with a groan. Why does it always come back to that stupid day at the motor-inn?

"There were a whole bunch of us at one point. We stayed at some motor-inn and we all tried to make it, but… it didn't work. There was a man who looked after me – taught me how to shoot a gun, survive out here, the basics. His name was Lee…"

"What, uh, happened to him?"

Why? Why did you have to ask me this? There's nothing more painful than remembering this.

"My parents… they came back and bit him. He put them down and then he told me to run. I never saw him again."

Luke doesn't know what to say, and I can't blame him. How do you try comforting someone after that? Do you tell them everything's gonna be fine? Because it's not. Nothing can change the fact that my entire family and a part of myself died in that alleyway.

"Anyway, should we head back? I don't see any walkers around," I comment, earning a silent nod from my companion.

I keep my head down while Luke just stares at the forest surrounding us, and I _hate _it. Don't get me wrong, I'm used to silence on a normal occasion, like if I'm trying to hide from walkers or something.

But I'm not very good at smalltalk, or trying to make people feel comfortable around me. I've never really had that ability, and I guess you could say that I'm an introvert in some ways. But awkward silence is absolutely terrible.

"Sorry," I murmur, still not looking at him, "I'm just not used to telling other people about my problems."

"You don't have to be."

"Hmm?"

"Clem, what's the most important thing in this world?"

Why the hell is he asking me that? He sounds like a damn philosopher or something.

After a few seconds of racking my brain trying to figure out what he meant, I finally understand.

"Family."

"Bingo," he praises, leading us back towards the makeshift campsite. "It's a tough world out there without people you can trust. But you're one of us now – you don't need to be alone anymore. Just something to think about."

Hmm… maybe he's got a point. These people aren't perfect, that's for sure, and it'll take a while before they finally start trusting that I'm not some crazy person out to kill every one of them in their sleep (well, at least Rebecca seems to think so). But maybe I can start letting people in again.

Let's just hope it all holds true.

_Two days later…_

After five days of trekking and reluctant apologies from Rebecca and Carlos, I'm relieved that we've found the place we're looking for. Luke says it's some kind of ski lodge we're headed for, and he wants to see if we could try and spend the night there. But honestly, are we actually going to stay there for good this time? Are we just going to always be on the run from this Carver fella?

"So, who's crossing the bridge with me?" I ask confidently, seeing as how most of the others are either too tired or too worried about crossing it. Carlos looks at me like I'm crazy, but you know what? Maybe I am! If this doesn't prove to them that I can contribute, then nothing will.

"I'll go," Nick says surprisingly, and as Luke is about to protest I cut him off. This might be good for him.

"You're sure this is a good idea?" Carlos asks nervously, particularly towards me. "We won't be able to cover you from back here, and…"

"We can handle it," Nick comes to my defense. Thank god, too – I haven't gotten Nick to talk to me all week.

Luke sighs and runs his hand through his hair, as per usual, before turning to the both of us.

"If shit goes sideways over there, head straight back. And Clem, take this with you," he hands me his big machete, and it feels pretty heavy, "Are you sure about this?"

"What are you my mother?" I reply sarcastically, smirking to let him know I'm just kidding around. "We'll be fine, you can trust us, Luke. Everyone."

The rest of the cabin group doesn't look convinced, but it makes no difference to me. I don't need anyone's support but my own (at least that's what I keep telling myself). Nick and I set off towards the big metal construct – me clutching onto Luke's big-ass machete and Nick holding his rifle.

"Thanks for not giving up on me, Clem."

"Don't mention it."

"Well, I won't forget it. You seem to be the only one who gives a damn these days."

"You've still got Luke and everyone else," I respond, feeling kind of sorry for him. "They're family."

"Yeah, well… shit! Lurkers, straight ahead." Nick motioned for me to get down behind a rock, pointing towards two walkers who were just _asking _to be put down. Luckily they hadn't seen us yet, and if we were careful we could probably take them down.

As long as Nick takes his finger off the damn trigger…

"It'll be too noisy!" I hiss, putting my hand over the barrel of the gun. "Don't you have a knife or something like that?"

"Nope."

"Great…" I say sarcastically. How are we supposed to do this without putting one of us in danger?

We can't, is the answer, and Nick has already devised a plan, it seems.

"I'll sneak up behind the big guy, and you throw a rock or something at the little one. I'll take out the big one with Luke's machete and then kill the second guy."

"Do you know how stupid that sounds?" I say incredulously, but Nick just shrugs his shoulders.

"Better than nothing, Clem," With that, he grabs the blade out of my hands and leaps over the rock. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of some very colourful language to use at Nick right about now.

Of course there aren't any big rocks around right when I need it most, but there are a couple of stones that might get his attention. It's not really that big of a deal if he turns to me or not, since his legs are gone, but I guess you always have to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

It's Nick that I'm worried about.

His recklessness is gonna get him killed one of these times; I'm almost sure of it. No wonder Luke seemed so reluctant to let him leave. At first I had figured that Luke thought I was going to mess up or get myself into trouble, but it never even dawned on me that Nick was the one he was thinking of.

Speaking of which, Nick carefully sneaks up behind the walker, raises the machete and slashes downward… but the walker is still standing. Nick didn't get him straight in the brain!

"Pull it out!" I exclaim, worried that he's going to attract too much attention to himself. He's panicking, that much is clear, and as he yanks the machete out of its back, he tumbles to the ground and struggles against the beast's unrelenting hunger.

Quickly forgetting about the other one, I run over to the fallen machete, and with all my strength I swipe across – knocking the head clean off and onto Nick's shirt. It's actually pretty funny seeing him squirming with that thing on top of him.

"Yuck! Get off me, you fucker!"

"Ahahahaha, he can't hear you, Nick! He's dead!"

"Just kill the other one already!"

_Much obliged, _I say in my head, walking over to the one sitting down and plunging the blade into its head. And, much to Nick's amusement, it won't come loose either.

"Not so easy, is it?" he sneers, pushing the dead body off of his chest and giving me a wicked grin. "Just give it a good pull, it should come free."

"Pretty sure I just saved you back there, Nick," I remind him with a glare.

With enough force, I manage to yank Luke's machete out of the walker head, causing blood to get all over my shirt. That's okay though – unfortunately I'm used to this kind of stuff by now.

Glancing behind us, we notice that Luke just witnessed the whole thing, and boy does he look _pissed. _

"We handled it, didn't we?" Nick shouts, and Luke just gives him the finger in response.


	7. Unanswered

"_Well? Who are you?_"

"Who's asking?"

"_I am!_"

"Should we shoot him? He seems pretty dangerous to me…" Nick whispers, his rifle lowered a little bit as he examines the man standing across from us.

"No, Nick. I'll try talking to him," I reply, taking a few steps forward, "We're kinda lost. Could you help us out?"

"Lost, huh?" he comes closer to us, "You don't look like assholes. _Are _you assholes?"

"I'm not an asshole," I reply immediately, folding my arms together.

"You callin' me an asshole?" Nick jokes as the other man chuckles a little bit.

_Yep, Nick's a giant asshole. _

"Have you met some people named Lilly and Duck? Lilly probably would've been really… mean to you, I guess. She can be like that around new people."

"Sorry, kid. There've been so many people coming through here that it's hard to keep track of them all. Name's Matthew, by the way," he sticks his hand out, and I give him a little handshake. At least he seems friendly enough.

"Why are you out here by yourself? Seems a little dangerous, don't ya think?" Nick asks suspiciously, still holding onto the rifle with both hands.

Matthew gestures back towards a little building just across the bridge. "That there's the station. I stick inside there and make sure we're safe up top. I've got some canned stuff you can have, and if you want… Whoa! What the fuck, man?!"

"Luke! Don't shoot! He's friendly!" I cry out, and thankfully he seems to understand what I'm saying. I motion for him to bring the rest of the group over and look back to Matthew apologetically.

"Sorry, the group gets a little jumpy sometimes," I explain, twirling my foot in the dirt. "So, you live up on the mountain?"

"Yep, there's me and three other people living in there. Used to just be my partner and I, but then we met Sarita and-"

"Nick, Clem! Are you guys alright?" Luke suddenly interrupted, bringing up the rear with the rest of the gang. "Jesus, did you guys take down all these walkers yourselves?"

"Not too shabby, eh?" Nick remarks, bumping my shoulder with his elbow. "They didn't even have a chance."

Luke then turns to me, not believing it for a second. I can't help but laugh a little at Nick's little showboating.

"Nick tripped and fell over, and I almost fell off the bridge. We killed most of them, but Matthew helped us out."

"If you guys want, we're settled in at the ski lodge just up the hill," Matthew cuts in, pointing his gun towards the chair lift. "Just… try not to seem suspicious or any of that shit. They get nervous, especially if it's a big group like yours."

"Why aren't you comin' with us then?" Luke asks.

"Still got some things to do down here, unfortunately. I'll meet you guys there, if you decide to stick around at least. Hey kid, how's about you come get some cans with me back in the station?"

"Sure thing," I reply, strolling with him back to the station. I can hear the rest of the group mumbling to each other about Carver and how this Matthew guy might be connected to him, but I think they're just being paranoid again.

"Alright, just lemme unlock the door here, and… voila! Welcome to my humble abode," he announces, revealing one of the shittiest-looking buildings I've seen in a while. Honestly, I think the burned-down cabin looks nicer than this place. There's one little cot with what appears to be a radio (though I doubt it still works), a little chest and some beat-up shelves. I wonder if this ski lodge he kept talking about is as nice as he said it was.

"I don't think your people like me very much," Matthew says, unlocking the chest with his key. I shrug my shoulders and wince slightly as I move my stomach a little more than I should. Carlos said the stitches won't be ready to come out for a while.

"They've got some trust issues, but they're alright once you get to know them," I explain, peering inside the chest. "Are you sure about giving this away? You won't have anything left for yourself!"

"We've got plenty more in the ski lodge, don't worry," he shrugged off, handing me a few of the cans. "Besides, if it helps you folks out then I guess it's worth it, ain't it?"

"Thanks, Matthew. I think they could really use some of the food right now."

"What about you? No offense kid, but you look like you haven't eaten in days."

"Some of them need it more than I do…" I reply somberly, my thoughts drifting to that one day where Lilly made Lee hand out the rations. I try my best all the time do things the way he would've, though it isn't always an easy thing to accomplish. The guy must have had a really strong will.

Venturing out into the evening chill, Matthew directed us towards the ski lodge, and we were on our way. Frankly, this whole thing seemed way too good to be true, and usually things like this are. I note to myself to keep my guard up more frequently as the chair lift comes into view.

"You guys don't think this is some kind of trap, do you? Did that Matthew guy seem like trouble, Clem?" Alvin asks, helping Rebecca up the last stretch of hill before we get to the top.

"He seemed alright to me," I answer truthfully.

"Hmm… well, maybe we should check to make sure nobody's following us. You know, just in case."

"Good idea," Luke agreed, "we can probably get a good view from up top. Feel like takin' a look?"

"What am I, a monkey?"

That got a few chuckles out of the group at least. It's about time, too. They can be way too serious sometimes.

Carefully traversing the ladder, I tune Luke out as he talks about something he used to do with his buddies as a kid. Luke, honestly, if I wanted to hear about your dumbass adventures with Nick, I'd be on the ground – not up on a big steel ladder. I'm kind of trying not to fall to my death here!

"You're almost there! Keep going!" he coaches, holding his hands out like a prophet or something.

"Alright, I'm up. What should I look for?"

"Is there any movement in the trees? Any lights?"

Squinting my eyes into the binoculars, I focus my vision on the station, and I actually see Matthew coming outside.

But wait… why are there three pairs of flashlights out there? And… oh my god! Matthew's down! Did someone shoot him?! The lights retreat back into the forest and are shut off, almost as if the entire thing was an illusion.

"Luke! Matthew… I think… I think he's dead! Luke?! Luke?" I turn around to see that Luke isn't even here anymore. There seems to be a commotion going on right in front of the ski lodge – and there's no doubt that it's the inhabitants of the place. Hopefully Luke's trying to diffuse the situation before it gets out of hand.

I climb down as quickly as I can, throwing caution to the wind as I go two at a time. Knowing these guys, they'll start throwing accusations at any moment.

"Who are you? Are you trying to rob us?!'

"Excuse me honey, but do I look like a fucking thief?!"

"Everyone just calm down."

"Hey man, you calm the fuck down!"

"Sarah, get behind me!"

"Put the gun down man!"

"_Fuck that!_"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax, man!"

No. It can't be. He's been… Oh my god… how?

"…Clementine?"

I'm torn. A part of me is shocked and relieved to see the man with the god-like stache (now a beard) standing before me. But another part remembers the motor-inn, the fights with Lee and him abandoning us with the RV.

And then another part is entirely terrified of what he's going to do when he finds out…

"Duck's not with you?"

Well, this is gonna get awkward real fast. Nice to see you too, Kenny. It's only been what, two years?

"I… I thought you were dead…" I say, trying my best not to meet his gaze. I can tell that he's relieved that I'm okay, but I know he's conflicted.

He's conflicted about more things than Duck, it seems.

"Clem," he starts, bending down to my level and raising my chin, "you don't know how happy I am to see you right now, darlin'. But… where is he? Please… What happened?"

Noticing the company we're in, I shift a little hoping that he'll catch my meaning – we need to talk in private. Luckily he understands, and he motions for everyone to come into the ski lodge. As the rest of Kenny's friends talk to the cabin group, I silently enter the ski lodge with Kenny, ignoring all the electricity, Christmas decorations and space they have here.

How am I supposed to explain this to him?

"We got separated," I begin, twiddling my thumbs nervously. Since when was I afraid of a person? "Lilly, Duck and I were on our own for two years, never staying in the same place for more than two days and always moving north. It wasn't easy, but we managed for the most part."

"Then about two weeks ago, a group of walkers got the jump on us, and I fell into the river. I'm sure they're alright, Kenny. But… I don't know where they are!"

Kenny looks really down at this point, and he just looks… tired. It's like he's been stressed out constantly for the last two years, and it's finally started to take its toll. But then he sighs quietly, and pats my shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Well, Lilly ain't exactly the person I'd want Duck to be around," he says while adjusting his hat, "but it's enough to know he's still out there somewhere. I'm sorry if I frightened you, Clem. I just didn't know whether or not y'all made it out alright."

"What happened to you? We all thought you were dead!"

"I am! This is all a dream!"

_AN: Can you imagine if I just stopped writing right here, and just said that Clementine was still sleeping the whole time? Yep, she's been snoozing in the motor-inn the whole time :p How much of a kick in the balls would that be?! _

"Hehe, sorry, bad joke. It, uh… wasn't easy getting out of there. I shimmied up a ladder into one of the old buildings and had to fight my way out. By the time I came back to the building across from the Marsh House you guys had already left. Can't say I blame you though, I'd have thought I was dead too."

"Okay, but did you see –"

"You two catching up?" asks an obviously Indian woman from behind the couch as she wraps her arms around Kenny's neck. For one slight second I pictured Katjaa standing behind him instead, but it was gone almost as soon as she entered my mind. Geez, I must be losing it today.

"Clem, this is my girl, Sarita. Ain't she beautiful?"

"Nice to meet you, Clementine."

"You too," I murmur as she goes over to talk to Sarah. Kenny goes to stand up and undoubtedly work outside on something, but I want to know. Scratch that, I _need _to know.

"Kenny?"

"Yeah?"

"Did he… did you see what happened to him? Was Lee still there?"

Maybe I am just imagining it, but for a split second I can see a trace of… guilt. Guilt and rage. I'm almost positive that's what it is. His whole body was tensing up, and his hands were beginning to form into fists. I know they didn't get along very well, but…

"Kenny, did something –"

"I think Walter needs a hand with dinner. He's the bigger fella in the red sweater, can't miss him. Why don't you go help him out? I'll be back in time for dinner."

"Umm, sure."

With that, he walks off and asks Luke and Nick if they'll give him a hand outside. Sarita and Sarah are decorating the Christmas tree, Walter is over making whatever it is he had on the stove, and Alvin, Rebecca and Carlos are chatting away upstairs.

I sit on the couch with my head in my hands, trying my best not to make a scene. Nobody notices that I'm stuck in a vicious cycle of confusion, anger and grief.

I'm pretty sure it's only going to get worse.


	8. Heated

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. I had tried earlier to tell Walter that I think something had happened to Matthew, but he just shrugged it off and thought I was worrying too much. Sometimes it really sucks being a kid…

Right now I'm just sitting alone on the couch in front of the fireplace; the aroma of Walter's dinner still hanging fresh in the air. Dinner itself went horribly. I could clearly tell that Luke felt hurt when I didn't sit with him, and then Kenny kept on asking me questions about whether or not he was trustworthy. It got old really quickly, and I left before Luke and Nick switched spots.

I've got an enormous headache right now. I swear it feels like somebody's cracking jackhammers across my skull, and of course they don't have any medication around here for that. So, I make do by caressing my temples and trying to relax. That usually helps.

Kenny's hiding something from me – I can tell. It started when I asked him about Lee, and then when I brought up Savannah at dinner he just immediately brushed me off. He knows something about that day that I don't, but the problem is that I can't keep asking him questions without the rest of them getting suspicious. And then there's this… unsettling emptiness between us. It's hard to explain, but I feel like I barely know the guy. We weren't exactly close to begin with, as I much preferred to hang out with Lee anyway.

But for some reason he seems different than he used to.

"Mind if I pop a squat?" Luke asks quietly, and I pat the seat beside me without even looking at him.

"You do that a lot, you know."

"What?"

"Stare off into space," he explains, "It's like you're in a whole other world over here. Come on; get it off your chest."

There's a sudden urge inside of me to make a sarcastic remark about minding his own business, but I don't really have the energy to even try. Besides, it's not as if he's wrong. I'm so zoned out that I could barely focus on one thing at a time.

"I'm worried about Kenny," I admit, leaning my head back and closing my eyes, "He seemed really uptight at dinner, and I'm almost certain it's about Duck."

"What is he, like, your boyfriend or something?"

Smacking him in the ribs, I put on my best pouty face and huff out a sigh. Why would he ever think _that_?

"He's just a friend, Luke…"

"I know, I know, I'm just pullin' your leg, Clem."

"And he's also Kenny's son."

"Oh shit…"

"Yeah," I murmur, taking off my hat and rubbing a hand through my dark, curly locks.

"Do you ever take that thing off?" he asks suddenly, his demeanor doing a complete one-eighty.

Shaking my head, I give off a pained expression as I recall the day I got this thing. Right before they left for vacation…

"My dad gave it to me," I explain, putting it back on, "And it just feels wrong when I don't have it with me."

"Ahh, I see," he nods before pulling out some sort of gold locket with someone's picture in it. "It was my mom's – I keep it with me to remind me of… better times, I guess. I snagged it from her room before I left the house that day. Makes it less painful somehow, you know?"

"You miss them a lot, huh?" I remark, picking up on the way he spoke about his parents. From what he was telling me, it sounded like they were a happy family once.

"The pain's numbed down a bit but yeah, I miss them every day."

"Well," I mention, trying to dull the ache, "at least you've still got Nick and all of them. You guys seem to get along pretty well."

"_We_."

"Huh?"

"You're a part of this too, Clem. I officially knight you as a part of our family, and all the benefits that come with it," For added effect, he taps my shoulders individually like a king christening one of his warriors.

"Gee, thanks, Luke. I'm _so _honoured. Did you want me to go slay a dragon for you, too?" I joke sarcastically, earning a playful shove from the man.

"Hell, these days, a dragon wouldn't really surprise me."

"Sup, guys?" Nick asks, coming over after finishing his talk with Sarita. "What'cha talking about over here?"

"Dragons," we say unanimously, with Nick looking at us like we're on drugs or something. I certainly feel like I'm on drugs anyway.

"You two are fucking weird," he remarks, going over to warm his hands up in front of the fireplace.

Making sure that a certain someone was out of earshot, Luke then remarks to his buddy, "Yeah? Well I wouldn't be too concerned about us, man. If you ain't careful then Kenny's gonna whoop your ass for hitting on his girlfriend!"

"What's the deal with that guy anyway, Clem?" he asks, completely ignoring Luke. "He seems like a dick, no offense or nothing."

"He's having a rough time, that's all. Kenny's as loyal as they come," I explain, resting my hands in my lap. Well, unless you don't agree with him – then he's kind of hostile. Why did the conversation always have to go back to something involving me? I swear it's like I've been cursed or something.

For some odd reason, that sparked my memory about what I saw earlier with the binoculars.

"There were some people with flashlights out near the bridge," I start off slowly, "I couldn't see what they looked like, but there were at least three of them. But that's not important… I think Matthew's not back yet because –"

"GET YOUR GUNS! QUICKLY!" Kenny suddenly shouts, springing everyone into action. Nick, Luke and I all run to the front, with the two boys grabbing their hunting rifles and me grabbing a pistol. It was actually kind of surprising that Carlos doesn't say anything, but then again he probably knows that I don't mess around with firearms.

Sarita clearly doesn't know this.

"Clementine's going with you?" she asked, "Shouldn't she stay here with me? I don't want to see anyone getting hurt…"

"She can handle it, hon. Trust me," Kenny replies, giving me a short nod, "Come on! Walkers are out storming the place. We gotta get moving!"

True to Kenny's word, there were a whole bunch of the things mindlessly walking towards the lodge.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Nick asks, taking a firing position behind a nearby picnic table.

"Storm had the windmill spinnin' out of control. I shut it down, but… you know."

"Make every shot count," Luke warns as Carlos and Walter both come out to join us, "we don't have a lot of ammo."

"Alright, try to stay together as best we can," Walter says, "We can't afford to get split up. If it gets out of control, just sprint for the lodge. No need to put your life at risk."

"Good idea," I agree, crouching near Nick and shooting off a round that landed square in the head of one of the walkers. I'm getting pretty good at this stuff!

All six of us continue to quell the onslaught of walkers from a distance, sending bullets into their brains and knocking them down like a big pile of dead flies. It works relatively well for a little bit, too, until after about five shots I hear the worst possible sound in the world.

_Click! _

"I'm out!" I call out, silently cursing my misfortune. Would these walkers ever stop coming?!

"Shit! Me too!" Nick yells, and suddenly I realize that our side is completely unprotected now. And as if our luck would have it, a stray walker decides to come up the rear and latch its decaying arms onto my back.

I try squirming away, but this guy seems to be a strong one. Somehow I manage to get on my back without it biting me, and I keep pushing to prevent its jaws from snapping down. Nick then kicks the thing in the face, sending it flying to the ground beside me, and he then stomps down a few times. The head explodes like a jelly donut, sending walker guts spewing all over my face.

"So gross…" I hiss, thankful that it didn't get into my eyes or mouth, "Thanks for the save, Nick."

"Don't mention it."

"Fuck… Clem, you alright?" Kenny asks, shooting another bullet out, "Just get inside, the both of you. We'll cover –"

Suddenly, a whole array of bullets could be heard coming from the forest, and instantly Carlos tells everyone to hide. I was confused, but Nick is already on his way inside while Luke sprints around the lodge and out of sight. Walter ushers me inside, but Kenny insists that he'd go find a better vantage point in case these people weren't friendly.

I was almost certain they wouldn't be.

"Quick, Clem, go upstairs!" Walter whispers as he hid behind a counter with his gun raised. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any bullets left either, but that doesn't matter at this point. I rush upstairs to find Alvin, Rebecca and Sarah all huddled together near the railing.

"Clementine, are you okay?" Rebecca asks quickly, "What's going on? We heard a lot of shots. Who's out there?"

"We know damn well who it is…" Alvin mutters menacingly, glaring out the window.

I've got a feeling I know who it is from the big guy's tone, but why would he have followed us this far? What does he want?

Suddenly, the doors burst open and I can hear muffled voices coming from the front.

"_Put the gun down, Carlos. You don't want things to get messy, do you?"_

"Dad!" Sarah whimpers, peeking her head over the railing.

"What's he gonna do?" I whisper, looking to Alvin and Rebecca for any clues. But of course, they're both as clueless as I am, and say nothing.

"_Where's Rebecca?" _

Alvin's fist clenches and Rebecca gives off a quiet gasp. Why would he ask _that? _

"What does he want with you?" I ask, placing a comforting hand on Sarah's shoulder.

"_Go to hell, Carver."_

"_You want to play the tough guy now, huh? Never did suit you, Carlos," _I don't hear anything for a moment, but then a sickening crack and a howl of pain rocks my eardrums, sending Sarah to sprint down the stairs and rush towards her father. Whatever Carver was doing wasn't pretty, that's for sure.

"We've gotta go down there," Alvin insists, "Carlos is in trouble."

"No! He'll kill you!" Rebeca retorts, earning a sympathetic look from her husband. God, these two really loved each other.

"I'll go find Luke and Kenny," I whisper, knocking off any argument from Alvin. "They should be able to help."

"God damn it…" Alvin murmurs before opening a side window and letting me out. "Be careful, Clem."

"You got it," I say before jumping down with a soft thump on the ground. Huh, I thought for sure that would've been louder.

As I told Lee all that time ago, I'm lucky that I'm so little – as I snuck across the lodge, the few patrols they had inside didn't notice a thing. But I'd have to stay as close to the wall as I could, because I'd be in plain sight if I venture out too far.

Aiming his rifle overtop of a little ledge-looking thing is Kenny, and as soon as he sees me he beckons for me to come over.

"Jesus, Clementine! What are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you! Where's Luke?"

"Damned if I know," he shakes his head, "Kid's about as useful as a rusty nail."

"Hey, he's gotten our group out of jams before. He's gotta be around here somewhere."

"Since when are _you_ a part of _their _group? You belong here, not with that ragtag group of punks."

"They're my friends, Kenny! I know them!" I hiss, getting slightly pissed with his behaviour. "They gave me a place to stay."

"Yeah? And look at 'em now! Getting stalked by this crazy bastard," he starts before firing a bullet into one of the guards, "and then just giving up without even putting up a fight."

Carver sees one of his men go down from the bullet, so in order to exact his revenge he grabs Walter by the scruff of his neck, dragging him forward and throwing him to the ground. Before Walter can even utter a sound, Carver shoots him square in the head, killing him instantly.

"Walt!" Kenny cries, his eyes fiery with rage. He takes three more shots that fail to meet their target, instead just skimming against a wooden plank.

"Kenny, stop it! He'll just keep going, you know he will!"

"He needs to die!"

"This isn't going to help!"

"Who are you right now?!" he whispers, turning to me, "Since when do you give up so easily?"

"He's got the advantage here, Kenny! Carver won't stop."

"Jesus, it's like Lee drilled all the wrong shit into your head!"

That one stings for sure, and I have to restrain myself from yelling and revealing our position.

"He was still a better person… Lee was right about you…" I whisper, anger boiling in me like you wouldn't believe.

"Yeah? Well guess what? Lee ain't fucking here anymore, so just fucking drop it okay, Duck?!"

Both of us pause, not only to catch our breath but also to recover from the shock of what just happened. Did he just call me Duck? Was this affecting him so much that he couldn't even think straight?

"Just go find your friend… get out of here, Clem," he whispers emotionlessly, turning his rifle back to where he thinks Carver may be hiding.

Something inside me breaks, and I say the one thing to him that I promised myself I never would – not in a million years, even though the world we once knew was completely destroyed.

"Fuck you, Kenny," I spit, sprinting away from him before he can try and do anything. Honestly though, I think he's heard that so many times over the years that it wouldn't even faze him.

I wanted to believe in him two years ago, even when everyone else was on his ass about his decisions. I had scolded Lee about fighting with the man all the time, and I tried so hard to get on Kenny's good side.

About five seconds ago, I had just carelessly thrown it away.

In truth, I didn't really mean to be so… well, mean. But as soon as he mentioned Lee, all I could feel was anguish and rage. I've never felt so mad in my entire life, even when Duck pranked me that one day by dumping a bucket of freezing cold water on my head to wake me up.

Hopefully I could patch it up again.

"_ALVIN!" _I hear the scream ricochet outside, and my heart sinks. Rebecca would only ever yell that if he… oh my god.

"Clem!" a voice whispers from the bushes, and I instantly recognize it as Luke's. Obviously he's not too thrilled about me being out here either. "Why the hell aren't you inside?"

"Trust me, you don't want to be in there right now."

"Fuck…" he mutters, motioning for me to come over to him. "We've gotta get them out before… shit."

Turning around, I see that Carver and his lap dogs have already marched our friends outside, all in bondages. Kenny got caught too, it seems, as he's trudging along next to Sarita with a crestfallen face. Alvin was nowhere to be seen.

"What do we do now?" I ask, not liking our chances now. "Where are they taking them?"

"My guess is that it's back to their base. It's an old hardware store, but it's days away on foot. You up for it?"

"I'm ready, of course I am," I respond, outwardly sounding confident, but inwardly terrified. This Carver guy seemed a lot more capable than I had previously thought.

"We'll get them back, Clem. Don't worry," Luke encourages, jogging down the hill with me tagging along after him. "We just need a plan."

"A good one would be nice," I joke, being careful not to slip and fall down the hill.

"All of my plans are good, don't worry," he turns his head towards me, "You trust me, right Clem?"

"Yeah," I respond, but my insides are crunching.

Trust is a hard commodity to come by these days.


	9. What's the plan?

_Crunch… crunch… crunch…_

The leaves crackling under my shoes are being incredibly loud – far too loud for a stealthy approach like the one we're doing. Hopefully a walker's hearing deteriorates as much as the rest of its body, though I'm not entirely convinced.

My breath hitches in my throat with each step I take, and my eyes start darting about as my mind goes into panic mode. There are so _god-damned _many of them out here in the woods! Luckily I'm camped out behind a big oak tree so that I'm not in a direct line of sight, but how in the world are we going to get out of this?

"Clem…" Luke whispers, motioning with two fingers to sprint over to the direction he's pointing. I look at him like he's crazy, but he insists that I go, so on the count of three I tiptoe as quietly as I can behind a group of like five walkers at least.

We've been at this game all night long and so far it's managed to work. Luke's plan is this: move as quickly and quietly as possible, stay together at all times, only use a gun when you have nothing else around (not that I have any bullets), and always keep the road on your left shoulder. He said earlier in the evening that the road will lead us straight to the hardware store.

When I asked why we couldn't just stay on the road instead of wandering through the woods, he believed that we'd be less likely to get spotted or attacked if we were hidden in the brush.

Yeah, great idea there, Luke!

Luke rushes over as well, careful not to alert any of the walkers as we bend down and hide in the bushes once again.

"What are we gonna do?" I whisper, "There has to be hundreds of them out here!"

"Umm…" he murmurs, picking up a decently-sized tree branch, "this might be the dumbest idea I've had all night, but it's better than nothing."

"That's what you say about all your plans!"

"The good ones are always the dumbest ones," he tries explaining before tossing the branch deep into the forest, "Okay, now!"

The two of us move forward as the walkers go and check out the noise, and as we skid to a stop just beside the road, we pant and have to stop to catch our breath. Unfortunately according to Luke we've barely gotten halfway to the hardware store. This would be much easier with a car, but obviously that option's out of the picture.

For the next four hours or so, we walk towards Howe's, occasionally having to run due to the herd slowly creeping up on us. For the most part though, we've been pretty successful.

The first rays of sunlight drop down through the treeline and onto our faces, spraying the air with morning dew as I struggle to keep my eyes open. I haven't had a chance to sleep all night, and if that's any indication then I likely won't be able to for a while. This really sucks.

"How ya holding up, Clem?" Luke asks, breaking me out of my stupor.

"Tired, but okay. How about you?"

"I'm alright actually. Nick and I used to pull all-nighters like this all the time back in college," he explains, a small smirk growing as he reminisces about the good old days.

"What was college like?" I ask, curious about the things that I'd never get to experience.

"It was a blast," he remarks, "Nick and I shared a dorm together, so pretty much every weekend we'd invite some friends over for parties and beer and shit like that. But we only stayed for two years, since… well, let's just say we had our differences with the dean. The dean's like the principal of your school."

"You got kicked out?" I conclude, putting the pieces together.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"What did you do?"

"Well," he begins, laughing at the stupidity of it all, "One night we kind of got a little too drunk, and we wanted to go out and have a grand old time. So, Nick and I jumped across the rooftops of some people's dorms and threw toilet paper all over campus."

"Really?" I ask, trying to control my laughter. Everything's funnier when you don't get enough sleep. "That sounds stupid!"

"Yeah, it was. The trick was not to look down though, otherwise you would've fallen off the roof. But, uh, the real problem was when Nick decided to jack the dean's car and go for a joyride in it. I found Nick the next morning with the car smashed into an office building, and then we got kicked out."

"Geez," I laugh, kicking over a stone, "The most I ever got in trouble was for letting our class snake out of its cage. It went over to some of the other girls in my class, and they screamed until I put him back in."

"And here I had you figured for the squeaky-clean type. Guess I was wrong," Luke jokes, beckoning for me to follow him. Thank god that Luke's good company, otherwise I'd probably be grunting and complaining the whole time. He seems to be the kind of guy who can lift other people's spirits up in a time of crisis.

As for me, I can't stop thinking about what I said to Kenny. God, I must've sounded like such a jerk last night, and now I might not even be able to tell him I'm sorry. It was just a stupid, heat of the moment outburst from me, and I totally shouldn't have reacted that way.

I hope he can forgive me.

"Hold up," Luke orders, placing his arm across my shoulders to prevent me from going any further. I hear muffled cries, but I don't see anything as he tells me to get down.

"What's the problem?" I whisper, holding out Matthew's hunting knife that we picked up after I told Luke how he died.

"Walkers are surrounding somebody…" he replies somberly, holding out his own machete, "Should we go help them?"

Looking up, I see the figure he's talking about. It's a man – not very tall with short brown hair, khaki pants and a collared shirt that clearly has fresh blood stains on it. _His _fresh blood stains.

"No," I say, and Luke looks at me like I've lost my mind.

"He's gonna get eaten alive out here, kid! We can't just ignore this!"

"There's too many of them, and he's gonna get nabbed either way. If we go and try to help, the only thing that's gonna do is bring more of them on top of us. We have to keep moving."

"What if it was you?!" Luke questions, trying to guilt-trip me. But I've been through so much stuff over the past two years that something like this doesn't even phase me anymore. My life is all about survival now.

I wonder what my family would think if they saw me like this.

"I'd tell you to run. Especially if I was already bitten."

"Clem, that could just be from him killing one of those things!"

"If you want to stay hidden from the walkers, then we need to keep going."

With a heavy sigh and one shake of his head, Luke relents as I take off ahead of him. I know that it sounds harsh, but we've got to stay focused on getting our friends back. Just like I was taught, we can't control what happens to other people out here, not anymore. Our group is the main priority.

After what seems like an hour and a half of not speaking to each other, Luke finally decides that now is a good time to call me out on it.

"That was definitely not cool, Clementine."

"We couldn't have saved him either way."

"The least we could've done is try!" he exclaims, rubbing his hands through his hair like he always does when he's upset. "That guy's probably dead by now, and we just walked away. What if Nick and I left you out in those fish traps?"

"That was different…" I mention, turning to face him.

"How?"

"I wasn't swarmed by walkers and already bitten!"

"You wouldn't have lasted a day out there!"

"I'VE BEEN DOING THAT FOR OVER A YEAR!"

I didn't mean to yell at him, but there was this need deep inside of me that had to prove that my actions were justifiable.

"I'm sorry… but you don't last this long out in the woods by being nice. If things were different, then yeah, I'd think we should've helped that guy. But we couldn't take the chance," I explain, calming down a little bit after my tirade.

Boy, does Luke seem speechless. I guess that it was surprising for me to blow up at him, and I think it must be a combination of me being tired as well as wanting to find the rest of them.

Though come to think of it, it was just last night that I exploded at Kenny as well. What's gotten into me?

"Howe's shouldn't be that much farther," Luke mentions, looking kind of sheepish, "Come on."

_Later that day…_

"Clem, keep your eyes open. Now ain't the time to be sleeping, we're almost there!"

"But that's what you said two hours ago…" I complain, my eyes drooping and my body feeling like it's going to collapse at any moment.

"I mean it this time, though. Look over there."

Sure enough, there's a road sign for Howe's hardware store pointing straight ahead. The board is tattered and ruined, but you can still see some of it.

"What are we gonna do once we get there?" I ask.

"Well, we can't exactly ring the doorbell," he muses, trying hard to keep himself awake at this point as well, "We need a way to get them all free… And we need to let them know about the herd. One of their radios might do the trick."

"How so?"

"We'll have to give it to Carlos or Rebecca or someone, but it won't be easy," he explains as the store starts to come into view. "They've usually got guards watching everything, but I know a couple of people on the inside who might be able to help us out. We'll give them one of the radios to let 'em know where the herd's coming from."

Gulping, my mind races back to when Sarah and I were hiding underneath the cabin that day. He sounded like Ben, but if his actions with Carver were any indication, then it might not be the same shy, skinny college kid that I remember.

"What's the matter?" Luke asks, noticing my hesitance.

"It's nothing," I reply, "So, what do I do once I get inside?"

"I'll go try to convince some of them to spring the group out, while you go for the radios. We'll have to wait until nightfall so that they won't find you in there, but I'll lead you in the right direction. Once you grab them, just meet me outside and I'll hand one to Carlos. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, alright."

_Later that evening…_

"Okay, this is it," Luke whispers to me as we sneak in through a busted garage door. One of the people must've bumped it with truck pretty badly. "We have to be super quiet inside here. Follow me."

This feels like one of those spy movies that I secretly watched with my dad as a kid. My mom always told him that I was too young to be watching that kind of stuff, but occasionally we'd sneak a peek when she wasn't around. If only I had some night-vision goggles or something – now that'd be cool!

The store seemed even bigger inside than it did on the outside, with all the crates, shelves and supplies. Carver's group had a ton of food in here, it seems, but I don't voice my thoughts. Even though it looks like a really secure setup here, it's still run by a tyrannical maniac named Carver. I don't even want to imagine what he's done to the rest of our friends while we've been away.

Luke leads me over to a door that reads: "Employees Only", and I know that's where I need to grab the radios.

"Be careful in there, okay?" he says, giving me a quick hug of reassurance, "If anything happens in there, just come straight back. It ain't worth risking your own life."

"Got it," I reply as I slip into the shadows.

The first thing I notice as I creep inside is that there's a lady with a bush for a hairdo standing watch with one of the walkie-talkies in her hand. Fortunately for me, she doesn't seem to notice I'm here, but I'm not going push my luck by staying any longer than I need to. As quiet as a mouse, I move towards what seems to be a charging station with at least four radios just sitting there, ripe for the plucking.

How did they get electricity here too?

Stealthily, I take two radios in each of my hands and scoot back over to where I came from. Wow, this was a lot easier than I thought it would be! Why was Luke so worried? These guards don't seem very intelligent to me.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, I internally chant in victory. Things are going just swimmingly.

But the next few moments become just a big blur. A painful, excruciating blur.

"Who the fuck are you?!" yells one of the guards as he spots me coming out. Taking his assault rifle, he bashes my stomach and sends me to the ground, where he proceeds to beat me into submission.

There are a few shots to my face, and I can already taste the blood forming inside my mouth. It's a metallic, disgusting taste, and now my ears are ringing.

"St-stop! Please…" I splutter out, reaching one hand out in mercy while the other one is trying to clutch all my injured parts at once. I think shooting me would've been a nicer punishment than this…

"Shut your fucking mouth," he spits before taking the butt end of his rifle and slamming it down on my head.

That's when everything goes black.

_AN: I'm sorry for hurting Clementine again! But I want to change up the story a little bit, and just wait until you see what I've got planned with Carver! Ooh, it's gonna be so much fun to write him… He he he… Anyway, hope you're liking it so far! Be sure to leave a review, they're always helpful and appreciated! _


	10. Doubt

My eyes groggily open as the slight taps against my face become progressively firmer, sending numbness through my right cheek as the wound is disturbed. Vision blurred, breaths slow and forced… how am I not dead? That assault took its toll on my body for sure, and I'm honestly not sure how I have the strength to look at this menacing person kneeled down before me.

"Looks like you're up, good," Carver smirks, a wicked glint in his eye as he stares me down. His words are smooth and not rushed; each syllable pronounced as if he's got all the time in the world. "Sorry about Troy, by the way. He can be a bit hot-headed at times. Though, in your case, my little trespassing friend, I can see why he reacted the way he did."

Standing up with his hands behind his back, Carver strolls over to a window overlooking the rest of the warehouse. We must be sitting in some kind of office, as there's a big wooden desk with pens and some filing cabinets behind it. I guess he must've found it only fitting that a _leader _like himself should get the head room to watch over everybody.

Not even ten seconds into seeing this guy, and I can already tell he's dangerous.

"You wanna tell me where your pal Luke is, Clementine?"

"How…" I wheeze out, "…do you know my name…"

"Your old pal Ben filled me in on the little group you had before, if you could even call it that," he then chuckles mirthlessly, "Mentioned you and your partner in particular. Said that if anybody could survive out here, it'd be you two. So where's this Lee character now, anyway?"

"Shut up…"

"Struck a nerve, did we? My condolences to you then."

After he turns back around and we hold each other's stares for an uncomfortable amount of time, he chuckles slightly and shakes his head.

"You're a strong one, aren't you? I can tell. We need more people like you to lead in times like this."

"You don't know me," I hiss, wincing in pain as I move around too much.

"Actually, Clem, I do. You see," Carver pulls over a chair to sit right in front of me with a commanding presence. "We're essentially the same person inside. We try and keep our loved ones safe, and are willing to do the hard things that nobody else has the balls to do. We get shit done."

Before continuing, he bends forward with mere inches between our faces. His is cold and calculating, while mine probably looks like a pummeled mess. I certainly _feel _like a pummeled mess.

"You've got that same look on your face. Confidence – your whole body is radiating with it, even though you're scared on the outside. That's what we need if we're going to make it through this. Kids like you, raised the right way – the way my child will be raised."

My nerves are too shot to say that it's Alvin's and not his, so he sits back in the chair and folds his arms across his chest.

"That group you were with, Carlos, Luke and the lot of them, they wouldn't have lasted much longer out on their own. They needed real leadership, and a roof over their heads. I brought them back to contribute to the community, you see."

"You killed two of my friends… and forced the rest of them to work for you…" I retort, trying to find the strength to prove him wrong.

"They survived here before – and killing one in order to save many is a part of survival. It's one of the tough choices that a weaker person couldn't make. And it's why it's up to people like us to lead them to safety."

"I'm not like you! I don't kill people without giving them a chance!"

"They had their chances," Carver comments calmly, "But you've gotta remember, it was your man who fired on me first. I just happened to show your friend Kenny the error of his ways."

At that last sentence, my blood ran cold and goose bumps spread up my arm like wildfire. Instantly I imagined the worst possible outcomes, all of which ended with him lying face down in the dirt somewhere in this store.

But I had to believe that he was alright.

"What… did you do…"

"Last time I checked he was unconscious, but he should be set to move eventually. Kenny stepped out of line, and he paid the price. You have to keep people in order to run a setup like this."

"Are you… are you going to kill me?" I finally get the courage to ask, expecting that this whole thing would be a charade and that he was just toying with me until I broke. To my surprise, he chuckled and shook his head.

Did he just think this was all some sort of sick, twisted game we were playing?

"No, Clementine. Like I said before, we need people like you out here. Besides, I've talked to you for maybe five minutes, and I'm already starting to respect you."

To my dismay, he then pulls out the two radios that I had managed to snag earlier and holds them in front of me.

"What kid would be able to pull something like this off, huh? You've got guts, kid, but you just need to be able to move on to the next step. Take that fire inside of you – use it to your advantage, and people won't treat you like a little kid. They'll respect you, maybe even fear you."

"I've got friends. We help each other out no matter what," I say, clenching my fists so hard that my knuckles turn white.

Carver slams his fist on his own chair and swears under his breath. Clearly, he doesn't believe me at all.

"Those friends of yours are nothing but untrustworthy, disloyal, crippled fucks who don't give a damn about you! Let me ask you. When you met 'em," he then turns to me with a serious stare, "how much did they trust you?"

I want to say that they did, and that they took me in without prejudice or question, but that would be a lie. The only person who really trusted me was Luke, but I can't tell Carver that because I'd be giving away the fact that I know where he is.

Carver seems to notice my hesitation, and instantly he can tell that they did not in fact trust me at first.

"Let's say you get seriously hurt out there, or maybe even lost somewhere out in the woods. Do you honestly think they're going to help you out?"

"Yes," I respond, though my voice is shaky and I can slightly feel the doubt rising in my mind.

"It's a bad habit to start telling lies," he remarks, putting one of the radios on the wooden desk. "They're all gonna die, Clementine. Don't let them bring you down with them."

We both sit in silence for a moment as Carver returns to the window, no doubt observing his guards and whatnot. As for myself, I can't help but think about what he's been saying. My friends wouldn't abandon me, right? We're a family now, just like Luke said! Sure, they might not have liked me at the start, but we'd stick together no matter what this jerk said!

But deep down, he's planted a seed of doubt in the dark recesses of my mind, and I can't seem to shake it off.

What if he's right?

Suddenly, the door bursts open, and standing there with the same assault rifle is that jerk who caused me all this pain earlier. Troy, I think his name was? He gives me one hell of a glare before turning towards Carver and ignoring me completely.

"Bill, there's a problem downstairs."

"What is it this time?" Carver sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. Obviously this isn't the first time that Troy has had to come get him for something.

"We caught the prisoners tryin' to escape," he explains, looking over at me menacingly, "They got that Luke asshole with 'em. Said that they'd start shit if we didn't bring her with us. Ben and Bonnie are with 'em too."

"Fucking ingrates," Carver swears with a pissed-off expression on his features. He gestures towards me as he starts up again. "Tie her up and meet me downstairs. We're going to settle this shit once and for all."

"Will do," Troy agrees lowly, and it creeps the hell out of me. As hard to believe as it is, I think if I had to choose between the two of them, I'd pick Carver. Troy seems too unpredictable.

Ordering me to stand up, I reluctantly oblige; my whole body shaking and pain riding up my system at the wounds. I feel light-headed and dizzy, which probably means that I have a concussion as well.

"And Troy?"

"Yeah, Bill?"

He points warningly at his henchman and stares at him straight in the eye.

"If you kill her, I swear to god I'll put you in the ground myself. Got that?"

"Uhh, yeah. No worries," Well, he certainly sounds worried to me. I don't think Carver was joking around either.

What the hell is going on?

Without as much as a word, Troy opens up one of the filing cabinets, pulls out a thick rope and proceeds to bind my hands behind my back. The ropes are rough and uncomfortable, and I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

I've only ever been a prisoner once, and that was back at the St. John's dairy when they stuffed us all in that scary meat locker. And I remember how frightened I had been back then, with Lee still not having woken up yet and the rest of them either really angry or spewing their guts out.

_Flashback…_

"_OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW YOU FUCKERS!" Larry screamed. I swear his head looked like it was going to explode like a smashed pumpkin at any second._

…_okay, maybe that did end up happening anyway, but you get the idea._

_Lilly was too busy throwing up to pay him much notice, and Kenny was striding back and forth so much that I thought he was going to tear a hole in the floor._

_As for me, I was huddled over near Lee, tears streaming down my face as I worried that they might have killed him._

"_Please wake up… I need you, Lee! Please!" I whispered, clutching his hand tightly and shaking it back and forth. _

_Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the outside of the locker with a gravelly, country voice warning us to keep it down._

_After that day, I never wanted to experience something like that again._

Now more than ever, I wish Lee was here with me. There wasn't even a chance for me to say goodbye, or to at least thank him for everything he did.

I just hope he understood that after I got dragged away by Lilly.

"Get movin', now!" Troy orders, pushing me forward with the barrel of his gun and bringing me back to reality.

We march downstairs, past the shocked faces of many residents that I don't care about. I see an Asian guy with long hair, a bearded man with glasses, a young teen and what looked like her older sister, and a short black guy that looked slightly sympathetic towards me.

Well screw your sympathy! If any of you wanted to help, you'd have done so already.

As we turn a corner, I can already see Carver lecturing and pacing back and forth. At this angle, I can't see anybody else, and for now Troy seems to want to keep it that way. He whispers harshly for me to stop, and so I stand there waiting for Carver to finish.

"You wanna throw away the life I'm trying to build for us all, then fucking fine! You wanna run off with this dogshit group of crippled fucks, then fine! Be my guest!"

Carver then makes eye contact with me before smirking and roughly taking my arm. I hear gasps coming from the rest of the group, though I can't really make out faces due to the bright light shining towards me.

I haven't checked in a mirror at all, but how badly did Troy beat me up?

"Here's how this is going down," Carver starts, clutching one arm around my body and the other one holding up a pistol to the side of my head. I don't know if he's bluffing or not, due to what he told me earlier, but I don't want to take the risk. I keep my eyes glued to the floor and pray that somebody just shoots him.

"You're all gonna cooperate, or I'm gonna put a bullet in her brain!"

"Fuck you! Let her go, damn it!" I'm certain that's Kenny due to the accent, and I can't help but wince as the memory of that night hits me. I feel a sudden urge in me to say something to him.

"I'm sorry Kenny," I say quietly, whimpering as the barrel of his weapon brushes against my skin. "I didn't mean any of it…"

There's a sharp intake of breath, and I can tell that Kenny's trying his hardest to maintain his strong composure. "No, darlin'. You were totally right, it was my fault."

"I hate to interrupt your little therapy session," Carver mentions, cutting him off. "But unless you lot get back into the pen, she won't see another –"

Suddenly, the loud groans of walkers start being heard from outside, and for once I'm actually relieved that they're coming this way. If this place gets overrun, then maybe we can escape!

Carver doesn't seem too pleased about this situation.

"So," he begins threateningly, "which one of you lowlifes opened the garage door? Ben, you traitorous fuck?! You want to fess up?!"

"Bill, stop it! Just let Clem go already! They're gonna be on us at any moment!"

"Too true, kid. That's why she's coming with me."

_What?! _NO! This can't be happening! He slowly brings me towards him as he orders Troy to get the truck started. What was this going to accomplish?! All Carver would be doing is starting a manhunt out for him!

…unless he's trying to prove to me that the group doesn't care…

No! They'll try! I can already see Kenny, Luke, Ben and Rebecca coming forward.

"Have fun lasting out there, ingrates," Carver hisses before bringing me back through a storage area and locking the door behind him. Some people are banging and twisting the doorknob as quickly as they can, but it won't be any use.

I'm in trouble now.

"_Clementine! Just hold on!" _I hear Luke yell through the steel door, "_We'll get you out, I promise!_"

"Doubt that," Carver murmurs, dragging me towards the truck that they had when taking the group to the hardware store in the first place. He quickly shoves me into the back and stands guard, giving me no chance of escape as he waits for Troy to come back with the keys.

Once he does, Carver places two hands on the shutters and prepares to close it, but not before he turns to me.

"Just remember what I said, Clementine."

With that, he pulls it shut, leaving me in complete darkness and anguish. I'm really on my own this time – nobody to help me but myself. My hands are bound, I don't have any weapons to use, and I'm eleven years old. That puts me at a massive disadvantage right off the bat.

What am I going to do?


	11. What I've done

"_Clementine, what are you doing up? You should be in bed, hon."_

"_I know," I reply timidly, climbing up the ladder of the RV and sitting myself down beside him, "But what if a bad guy comes through the window? Or if one of the monsters break through and try to eat me?"_

"_Can't sleep, huh?"_

_Shaking my head, I lean against his leg as he puts his arm around my shoulder, squeezing it in comfort. He always makes me feel better no matter what happens, and it's a nice thought to know that he's always watching out for me._

"_Lee?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_You won't leave me, will you?"_

_He turns his rugged body towards me in confusion. "Of course not, sweet pea. Why are you asking me that?"_

"_Well…" I sigh, trying to put my words together, "Once we find my parents, then you won't really need to look after me anymore, right? But you can be a part of our family too, if you want…"_

_I hear a deep rumble from inside his chest, and he doesn't say anything for a little while. This kind of scares me a little bit – did I say something wrong?_

"_Clem, we're already a family."_

_He then takes the rifle, looks out of the scope and into the darkness, lines up the shot, and…_

BAM!

The walker in front of me tumbles to the ground in a bloody heap, and Troy reloads his gun as he stomps over to me, red in the face.

"Make me save your ass, Jesus," he mutters, pushing me forward roughly, "If you'd keep up then I wouldn't have wasted the bullet! Next time I won't be so generous…"

You know what Troy? Maybe if you'd untie me then the damn thing wouldn't have gotten the jump on me in the first place! Ever think about that?

Carver drove all night long and well into the morning, and I still had no idea where he was taking us. Honestly, I don't even think that Troy really knows what's going on, and Carver practically tells him everything. The truck was abandoned a few miles back even though it still had gas, and now we've been on foot for the last hour or so. My wrists are sore, I still haven't recovered, and of course it just had to start snowing. In other words, I am freezing my ass off.

"Here, we'll set up camp at this clearing over here. Makes sure she doesn't wander off," Carver orders, pointing to me, "I'm gonna scout ahead and make sure we weren't followed. Keep an eye out for trouble."

"Sure thing, Bill," Troy responds, and I am now starting to notice how their relationship works. Troy literally follows Carver around like a dog – catering to his every whim and terrified of making him angry. It's kind of sad really.

Maintaining my neutral composure, I stand there and watch as Troy proceeds to roll out some sleeping bags, gather some wooden logs and divvy up some rations. I've decided to give them both the silent treatment for as long as I can – only making conversation when I feel it's necessary. Besides, maybe it'll save me from Troy going berserk again.

"God damn it! Fucking splinters…" Troy whines as his hand slides too quickly over one of the logs. Clearly he's not the sharpest tool in the shed. "Can't believe I have to babysit you! If it were up to me, we would've left your ass on the side of the road somewhere!"

What exactly is his problem with me?

"Got nothin' to say? Figures… you look as though you're dumber than Sarah."

In order to not give him the satisfaction of my reaction, I stare straight at him as if whatever he has to say is totally irrelevant. After doing this for about ten seconds, he sighs heavily and goes back to what he was doing. Heh, looks like I've won this round.

But of course, he keeps trying.

"I bet them friends of yours didn't make it out of there alive – serves 'em right for actin' up so much. Most of 'em are probably lurkers by now, kid. You're all alone now."

Not… going… to… react…

"In fact, I'd say they're all lurkers by now," he continues, smirking wickedly, "Is that what happened to your family, kid? They all dead now too? You got no one left here that gives a flying fuck about whatever happens to you –"

"Troy!"

Immediately shutting up, the bastard turns around to see an annoyed Carver strolling back to the campsite.

"What'd I tell you on the way here, huh? Don't piss off the guest! Especially since she'll be a part of our community soon enough. You piss off enough people and you're gonna regret it eventually."

I don't think it's healthy for an eleven year old girl to want to hurt someone (let alone at any age), but my whole body is trembling with rage and grief. This guy had the audacity to jab at me about my parents?! And what does Carver mean? Does he seriously think that I'm going to join them after all this?!

Hell no!

Thankfully, neither of them talk to me for the rest of the day, so I sit against a nearby tree kick stones around out of sheer boredom. Earlier in the day, I had tried to cut myself free against the bark of the tree, but these ropes are way too strong for it to have any effect. And it's not as if I can just run off into the woods being this handicapped right now.

Maybe if they let their guard down…

I need some sort of plan to pull this off.

The fire crackles as Carver cooks the rabbit overtop of the flames; the meat turning from a slight pinkish colour to a darker, reddish tone. Troy seems content on cleaning out his rifle nearby like it's his most prized possession. It's kind of creepy, really.

"Almost cooked, boys and girls," Carver announces, turning the thing over every once in a while. "Might not be the most filling meal, but it'll get the job done."

"What are we even doin' out here, Bill? I mean, shouldn't we be back at the store?" Troy asks.

"We were going to get overrun with the herd. I figured our best chance would be to escape, and with them so worried about getting the girl back, they'd slip up; let their guard down. They had numbers on us, Troy, but I figured we'd wither them down and thin them out until we can return to base. When we get back, whoever's left will think twice before leaving again."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Troy comments, nodding his head.

However, that doesn't sound very smart to me.

"That's stupid…" I murmur, not intending for them to hear it even though they did.

"Hey, no one's fucking talkin' to you!"

"Troy, easy," Carver states, turning his attention back towards me. "First words I hear you say all day long, and it's just to say that? What makes you think this won't work?"

"What makes you think they won't last? They're smart, and they've got guns. For all you know, they might have just taken over your base while you wasted your time taking me," I reason, trying to sound as intelligent as possible.

Carver scoffs and shakes his head, not believing it. "Most of them are weak of will and character – they won't last, Clementine. Believe me."

"If they don't last, then what are you gonna do if Rebecca dies too?"

That sets him off a little bit, as if he'd never really considered the possibility of that happening. Even Troy seems a little bit torn, and he's waiting for his _master _to respond. Finally, he turns to me with a glare that could scare even Kenny.

"She's a strong woman – I've no doubt that she made it."

"You don't know that."

In reality, I really hoped that they all made it out alive, safe and sound. I just want to get under Carver's skin and make him doubt himself for once, instead of it being the other way around.

Hmph, maybe part of him is rubbing off on me.

"Either way," Carver resumes, trying to keep his cool, "it's not your concern. And if by the odd chance that something like that did happen, then we've still got a younger generation such as yourself to lead us out of this."

That does it. One way or another, I'm breaking out of here. Tonight.

About fifteen minutes have passed, and the rabbit's fully cooked and ready to eat. Carver splits it off into three separate pieces, and basically tosses one piece over the fire and onto the ground in front of me. Real appetizing stuff, that's for sure.

"How am I supposed to eat with my hands tied up?" I ask, my wrists still bound behind my back.

Rolling his eyes, Troy comes over and pulls out some sort of pocket knife as he slowly cuts through the ropes.

"You try anything and I'll put you down. Got it?" Troy warns, not receiving any argument from Carver this time. Gulping, I nod carefully as he cuts through the last strings, leaving me rubbing my wrists tenderly. God, they're sore.

Little do they know, my plan has already been set in motion. What a scheming little devil I am!

_Later that night… _

"Alright, Troy, you'll take the first watch. I'll cover you in a few hours, and then we'll move to our next location in the morning. If you see any lurkers, warn me," Carver commands, giving me one last look before retiring to his sleeping bag.

Troy's watching me like a hawk, which is going to make this more difficult than I had anticipated. There's gotta be some way to distract him, but I'll need to wait until Carver's fully asleep before I can try it.

If this doesn't work out the way it's supposed to, I might as well dig up my own grave right now.

Sitting on the cold, hard ground in silence, I think back to all my friends that got left behind at the hardware store. I wonder if they're alright? Would Sarah be freaking out, with her dad just sheltering her and telling her that's it going to be okay? Is Kenny throwing a fit and swearing from A to Z? Has Rebecca had her baby yet, and what about Luke and Nick? Are they butting heads, or trying to calm everybody down?

Are any of them even alive?

Shaking these thoughts aside, I turn to check if Carver has finally fallen asleep. Sure enough, he has, so I begin whispering over to Troy to get him distracted.

Here goes nothing…

"Why do you take orders from him all the time?"

"Shut your fucking mouth, kid…"

"Seriously though! Who put him in charge of your life? You can do whatever you wanted to, but you're sitting there taking his crap. Maybe you should try to lead sometime."

"I said shut the fuck up! I swear to Christ I'll take this gun and put a bullet straight through your forehead!"

Honestly, this guy is like a ticking time bomb. It's only going to take a little while to set him off.

"I don't think you'd shoot me," I whisper knowingly, turning around to face him, "because then you'd be disobeying him. And you don't want to do a thing like that."

As I hear some of the groans coming out from the woods, I inwardly praise myself for my acting chops. Clearly my plan's working so far, and Troy's stomping over to me as angry as I've ever seen him.

Unfortunately, he's probably going to hit me again.

_Bam!_

Ouch…. Yeah, he's a jerk.

I fall backwards as his fist connects with my left cheek, hitting the dirt with a thud that doesn't seem to wake up Sleeping Beauty over there. It stings, especially since there was already a cut there before, but it's necessary in order for him to let his guard down.

And here comes the welcoming party.

"Shit!" Troy curses, running back to his position on the log as a pretty big group of walkers come trudging towards our campsite. He hasn't fired off any shots off to alert Carver just yet, so now's my chance.

Quickly and carefully, I get up and sneak my way over to Troy – the cold breeze of the night informing me that winter is coming (_AN: No, I don't watch Game of Thrones, so don't quote me on it!_) as it chills my bones. Luckily I can still see due to them leaving the fire burning lowly, so I carefully maneuver until I'm directly behind the angriest person I've ever known.

"Get back you sons of – AGHHHHHHHH! YOU LITTLE BITCH! ARGH!"

The hunting knife that I snagged from him gets jabbed into his thigh, with him screaming in agony as the walkers advance on him. Pulling the knife out, I cringe as I hear them tackle Troy to the ground, and I try to block out the sound of them eating him alive.

What I do realize now though, is that Carver just saw the whole thing go down, and he's glaring a hole through my small frame.

Ducking behind a nearby tree, I just barely dodge the bullet as he shoots his revolver, sending splinters up in the air. So far my plan's gone about as smoothly as you might think, but I've got no idea what I'm going to do now. Carver's out to kill me and so are the walkers.

All I know is this: I'm determined not to die while being hunted down like an animal in the middle of who-knows-where.

"This was a bad move kid. _Real _bad," Carver calls out menacingly, firing off more rounds as the walkers intrude further upon us. I sprint over to the next tree as a walker tries to sink its teeth into my neck. There's no way that I can go further into the woods, as I've got no idea where I'm going or what's out there, and at least over here I can see my surroundings somewhat. Going out into the darkness would almost surely mean my death. Not that my odds are much better here, but still. Can't take the risk.

"I could tell you were a sharp one," Carver mentions, battling his way through the last of the surrounding ones, "If anyone out of that sorry little group of yours were to make it, I think it'd be – you!"

He's managed to grab me by the neck and pin me down to the ground; his revolver at the ready near his side.

"But you killed my man, so you know the drill. You need to pay the price," The gun is now cocked and aimed at my forehead, and I only have one option now. "Sorry it had to come to this."

"You… said it…"

Curious, Carver tilts his head in confusion – not noticing that I've already raised Troy's hunting knife up near his shoulder blade.

With as much force as I can manage, I shove it into Carver's shoulder, with him grunting as I take it out and proceed to go higher with the blade each time. I don't stop until I've reached to the top of his neck, as he tries to hold everything together uselessly.

Carver gasps and moans, nodding to me one last time before he falls backwards and into the fire pit, already having died before his body is engulfed in flame.

My hands are shaking again as I toss the knife to the side, horrified at the act that I just committed. I'm no better than they were now. I caused both their deaths at eleven years old, and I feel incredibly ashamed.

"Oh my god… oh my god… oh my god…" I repeat over and over again, rocking back and forth against a tree as I witness the scene unfold.

"…Clem?"

Turning my gaze to the left a bit, I see the last person I expected at that moment. But I don't question why she's here or where she's been – instead I watch in horror as Lilly looks around at what happened.

"Lilly…" I whimper, tears already forming in my eyes. Quickly she runs over to me and bends down to my level, embracing me in a hug and rubbing circles reassuringly on my back.

"Oh god, Lilly… what have I done…"

"Shh… it's okay. It's okay."

"I k-k-killed…"

"They would've done the same to you, Clem. You're going to be alright… Let's just get out of here."

Pulling me up like a ragdoll, Lilly wraps her arm around my shoulder and escorts me away from this miserable place as the sleeping bags start to catch fire as well. I've never needed this woman more in my entire life than right now.

As for my own wellbeing, let's just say that I probably won't be sleeping for at least a week, if not longer. I'm conflicted with emotions and thoughts right now, and all I want to do is go back home where I belong.

Back to my family.

_AN: Hopefully that wasn't too dark – I don't want to have to raise the rating to M, but I think that might've been cutting it close. Compared to the game though, it might seem pretty tame, but I don't know. Let me know how you guys are liking it so far! _

_Btw, thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far! Rebloxic, Jay Chammy, Aqua Destiny, Walking Dead Fan, I amClem, kesarkuch, Neverlie, all the guests, everyone! It makes writing this story worthwhile since I hear you guys are enjoying it!_

_And lastly, let me know what you think! Is Clementine becoming more like Carver? Or is she just doing the right thing? _


	12. What did I miss?

_AN: There's something implied in this chapter, and I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. I don't write anything too graphic, but __**if it makes you uncomfortable then just skip ahead**__. Other than that, this chapter's pretty straightforward. Thanks for the reviews my peeps! Keep them coming! _

Everything seems like it's out to get me – the owls hooting in the air, the trees rustling in the wind, everything. The darkness is not my friend. All it wants to do is swallow me up and leave me to rot. Grim as though it may be, that's just how I feel. Lilly's my lifeline, and I'm sticking to her like glue.

Mentioning briefly about how I got here in a truck, I direct Lilly back towards it, still not knowing how she managed to find me out here in the first place. Or how she knew I was taken by them.

However, until we get inside the truck, I'm not saying anything. Even if I tried, I doubt I'd be able to make much sense anyway. It'd be like trying to talk with a bunch of marbles circling around inside my mouth.

The chilly night air is relatively quiet now, which surprises me after the way I left that camp. I figured at this point we'd be up to our ears in walkers, but not a single one has crossed our path yet. I wonder how long it'll take for all the walkers to be gone? What would we do next? It's not as if we can pick up where we left off – not with all the broken families, mental changes, survival instincts and the works.

Are we all going to be gone by that point anyway?

"Is this it over here?" Lilly asks, and I slowly nod my head. That was a lot quicker than I had anticipated. Maybe it just felt like a long walk the first time since I was being held against my will, but that's all in the past now.

Opening the passenger side door for me, Lilly walks around and sits in the driver's seat. It's not long though before she gets ticked off and kicks the door in annoyance.

"What's wrong?" I ask timidly. Right now, I feel even smaller than I did two years ago, and it hurts that I feel slightly afraid of this woman again.

"You didn't happen to grab his keys, did you?"

Dang it! Carver must've had them in his pocket before I… _Sigh. _I'll never forget what happened tonight.

"I guess I can try hotwiring it, but it'll take some time. Just stay in here with me, okay?" she asks lightly, sensing that I'm not exactly stable right now.

Really, Lilly? It's not like I'm going to go for a stroll after all that! Of course I'm staying inside.

Watching Lilly work, I try to take mental notes of what she's doing in case I ever have to do this in the future, but it's not exactly easy. I'm certainly no mechanic, but Lilly's going so fast that it seems like she's done this a thousand times.

I hope she didn't do this for anything illegal back in the day.

In the meantime, I start asking the questions that have been burning in my mind since I saw her come get me.

"How'd you find me out here?"

"Well, I was waiting out at Parker's Run – some old museum a few miles from here – when a whole bunch of people started showing up. They were covered in all this gross shit, and later I found out it was a bunch of walker guts."

"Eww! Why'd they do that?" I ask, horrified that they'd put themselves through that.

"Apparently they had to get through a fuck-ton of walkers on the way there, so they covered themselves up so that they wouldn't get spotted. I don't think it worked that well, though."

"Okay… what happened next?"

"One question at a time, Clem," she answers, sparking two wires together until the engine roars to life. She gives a triumphant smirk and shuts the door. "Fasten your seatbelt, kiddo, we're getting out of here."

She puts the car in drive, and off we go through the woods and onto some lonely-looking highway with a whole bunch of overturned cars, rotting corpses and scraps of supplies that have already been raided. It's difficult to remember sometimes that these used to all be people with lives of their own, but at least I didn't know them before. The people you did know – that's when it hurts you the most.

"You didn't really finish answering my question," I comment quietly, tapping my fingers along the passenger door. Lilly kind of just stopped partway through.

"Well, I had my gun out ready to shoot in case any of them tried to get the jump on me, but then Kenny of all people shows up and yells at me. I just about shot him anyways."

"Is Duck…?" I ask, my hopes returning.

She doesn't say anything for a moment; her eyes focused on the road and trying to dodge the fallen cars.

"Yeah… he's there."

"But?"

Sighing, she grazes her fingers over the steering wheel and keeps her mouth shut.

"Lilly," I comment lowly, "What happened?"

"We… there was an incident," she begins, shaking her head, "fucking bastards, the lot of them. I couldn't even put the guy down, and his friends just watched him until one of them told him to stop."

_Flashback, Lilly's POV…_

"_Come on, Duck. Keep up – Parker's Run isn't too far from here," I stated, pushing branches out of my face as we advance._

"_You said that like an hour ago!" Duck complained, coughing into his sleeve. "How do we know this'll be better?"_

"_I don't know for sure, but I think I'd sleep better at night with a roof over our heads than sitting in a pile of dirt. Don't you?"_

"_I guess…"_

"_Good," I finished, shielding my eyes from the sun's rays in order to get a better view up ahead. "Looks like we're heading in the right direction, and who knows? Maybe we'll actually find some supplies this time. What do you think, Duck? …Duck?"_

_The next few seconds went by pretty fast, but I'll tell you what I remember. There were about five armed men surrounding the two of us. There was a skinny guy with a goatee, lip piercing and a ski cap, another one who looked like a redneck with a hat and leather jacket, and the other three were just kind of standing around. They weren't important to me after what happened – you'll see in a sec._

"_Well boys, look what we've got here!" the redneck yelled, his eyes crazy and bloodshot. He sounded as though he was high, and by the looks of things his buddy in the ski cap probably provided him with it. "One fine-looking lady and her punk-ass kid! Now, what do you think we should do here, gents? Kill them now and take their shit? Or maybe we should have a little… fun."_

_The crazy man had Duck in a chokehold with a gun pointed at his head, while the other four all had their guns pointed on me. Ski cap guy seemed to be a little reluctant about this, but who gives a flying fuck?! _

"_Look, I'm sorry. But we don't have a choice… just give us some shit and we'll let you go –"_

"_Come on, Eddie! Where's your taste? Live a little, bud! I say have your way with her before killing her and leaving her in the ditch!"_

"_Nate, come on man, what the fuck's wrong with you?! This isn't how we do things!" Eddie retorts before getting a shocked look on his face. When I turn to see what's going on, my blood boils and all I see is red._

_Nate has Duck pinned to the ground already. Looking back, he probably wouldn't have done anything, but in that moment… oh god. I wanted to snap his neck in two._

_And like I said earlier – the other three just sat there and watched him do it. In some sick way I think they actually found it amusing._

_Immediately I charged forward, murder on my mind as one of the goons punched me in the gut, rendering me helpless as I gasped for air._

"_Stop it! What are you doing… Please!" Duck cried as Nate stood up and put his foot on Duck's back._

"_You touch him… and I'll fucking kill you…" I wheezed out, pointing a finger at Nate and giving a dangerous look towards Eddie. "Stop this…"_

"_Fucking hell, man. Let him go. This isn't us," Eddie said, taking away the few water bottles we had left and stuffing them into his backpack. _

"_Jesus… You people are a bunch of pansies, the lot of ya!" He then kicked Duck hard in the stomach, took the kid's bag and pulled out his pistol. "Where are we off to next?"_

_And that was that. Nate, that monster, didn't even care about what he was going to do – as if it was like killing a fly or something. As the rest of them sauntered along after him, Eddie took one last sympathetic look towards the both of us. My glare immediately told him to either drop my shit when the rest weren't looking, or get the hell away from us. He kind of went halfway._

_Looking over his shoulder, Eddie casually tossed two of the water bottles onto the ground before turning on his heel and leaving. _

_End flashback…_

"… does Kenny know?"

"I barely talked to him before taking off, so unless Duck said something, then no."

The woman looks defeated, as if for some bizarre reason this was her fault. But how could it be? It was five against two, and the men got the jump on them.

It makes me realize that clearly I'm not the only one who's having issues lately.

"You feeling better, kiddo?" she asks suddenly, changing the subject entirely. Casually, I shrug my shoulders, not wanting her to worry about me too much. I've never been one to want sympathy, especially large amounts of it. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to get a _ton _when we get back.

"He said I was just like him…" I mutter as I stare out the window, looking up at the stars.

"Who?"

"Carver… the guy who kidnapped me."

"Oh… was he the one older guy?"

"Yeah…" I reply, shuddering as I recall the conversation at the hardware store. Just thinking about him makes my skin crawl. "I tried saying I wasn't, but he just kept pointing out stuff about me. I can't get it out of my head."

"Clementine, listen to me," Lilly firmly states, pulling the truck over to the side and turning her head to face me, "Forget about him, alright? You're the sweetest, most loyal kid I know, and what you did back there was completely justified. It was self-defence, Clem. I know you find that hard to believe, but he kidnapped you. So don't go blaming yourself, alright?"

Not saying anything, I keep my eyes glued to the dashboard as she squeezes my shoulder and drives back out onto the highway. This hasn't been a particularly long ride, so it's understandable how Lilly may have walked at first. There's an off-ramp we turn onto shortly afterwards to get to this place, and we spend the rest of the trip in silence.

Lilly still never answered my question of how she found me, but I can figure it out. Either Luke or Kenny probably started rambling about Carver taking me away, and Lilly probably took off after telling them that she works better alone. She probably saw the smoke and heard the gunfire from Troy, so she just followed it until she found me. I just wish she hadn't seen me at such a low point.

"Well, this is it," Lilly announces as she puts the car in park. "It's gonna be daylight in a few hours. Are you ready?"

"Yeah," I answer, looking around at this… dump. That's what I would describe it as – a big, brown, brick-layered mess of a place. Maybe at one point it would've seemed decent enough for people to visit, but now it was unkempt and overtaken by nature.

Then again, so were a lot of things these days.

"Stay close to me, got it? I don't know if there are any walkers sneaking about."

"Got it."

We snake our way around the building, passing by an old souvenir shop with empty shelves and broken window panes. It looks kind of tacky, but if you loved civil war history then you may have gotten a kick out of it. The museum itself isn't much further of a walk, but of course the lights are off so I can't see a thing inside at the moment.

Lilly carefully opens the front door, only to be met with a pistol aimed at her head.

"It's me, god-damn it! Put your gun down!"

"Oh shit, sorry about that… You're the lady we met here, right?"

"Nick!" I exclaim, causing him to step outside and look down at me.

"Holy shit… Oh, thank god you're alive kid," he says as he wraps his arms around my waist. I definitely wasn't expecting that, least of all from him, but I'm relieved all the same that he made it out.

"Where is everybody?" I ask after he releases me. Nick's expression is grim, and I know that something has gone horribly wrong.

"Carlos… they shot him and then some walkers got him. Sarah took off after losing her dad, so we've no idea where she is."

Putting a hand against my mouth, I stifle back a gasp. Oh no… I know we didn't get along that well, but Carlos was a good man, and a good father to Sarah. A bit overprotective at times, yes, but you could always tell how much love he had for his little girl. And now that Sarah's gone… what were we going to do? We need to find her!

"Anyway, come on inside. Most of 'em are asleep, but they won't mind after seeing you."

Leading us through the darkened hallway, Nick opens the door to a room that was lit up by a few candles that were nearing the end of their use, as the wax had almost completely dripped to the ground.

From what I can make out, I see Rebecca, three strangers who were no doubt from the store, Ben, Luke and… Duck. God, I just want to scoop him up and never let go. I can't imagine what he must be going through.

Okay, maybe I can.

"Dude, get up," Nick nudges Luke with his foot, "We've got a visitor."

"Urghhh… what the hell man… I'm sleeping… zzzzz…." he replies as I smirk slightly. Under normal circumstances I would've just pounced on him until he realized it was me, but I'm not feeling very chirpy or enthused.

"Luke, seriously!" Nick chides, shoving him harder, "Look!"

"Uhh, what do you want, man? Can't you see I'm trying to…" Almost as soon as he sees me, his eyes dart wide open and he struggles to a standing position. "Clementine?!"

"Hey," I say quietly, a tiny smile plastered on my features. Instantly, he comes over and scoops me up in his arms, going over and over again about how sorry he was.

"He didn't hurt you, did he? Is he around here somewhere? 'Cause if he is, then we should move," he rapidly questions, and at that moment I don't have the heart or the stomach to tell him what I did. At another time, perhaps I'll tell him the whole story, but for now I just want to drop it.

"I don't think so," I answer quietly, and I notice Lilly shift a little uncomfortably. "I guess you guys haven't really been introduced yet. Lilly, this is Luke. Luke – Lilly."

"It's nice to finally meet you," Luke greets, nodding his head, "Clem's told me all about you and Duck."

"Well, hopefully not everything."

"Ahem… anyway," I interrupt, not wanting him to start asking questions, "I think I'm gonna get some sleep – I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Yeah… sure thing," Luke says, clearly still worried about me. I think that he knows I haven't told him everything that happened, but I will not crack – not just yet.

Lilly too goes to sit down in an open space next to Duck, so I carefully maneuver my way over to them. Sliding into a spot next to the corner of the room, I fall asleep almost the second that I hit the floor.

Tomorrow's when shit _really _starts to hit the fan. 


	13. Museums

Waking up in a cold sweat, I drearily open my eyes and scan the room, thinking that someone might be waiting under a desk or something to come out and attack me. Luckily, I see no such thing, and the only one left besides me in here is Ben. The guy's dozing off in some chair over by the hallway door – probably exhausted from running and everything.

I wonder if he's changed at all in the two years that we've been apart. He certainly doesn't look that different, although instead of his infamous school jacket that he never went anywhere without, he has on some jean jacket that you'd probably see a biker with. He also seems to be trying to grow a beard of some sort, though it doesn't seem to be working very well. Other than that, not much looked different about him, although his hair was a bit shorter now (must've used scissors). I have no idea if his personality changed, but a lot can happen over that time.

I wonder why he left Lilly and Carley in the first place?

Trying not to disturb him while making my way out is impossible, as he's already returned to consciousness.

"Clem? Oh thank god… everyone was freaking out after Carver took you away. Are you alright? How did you get back? Are those assholes both gone now? Do we have to be on the run anymore?" He was firing off so many questions that I thought he was going to suffocate himself, but I step in and ask a question of my own.

"Ben…"

"Oh, sorry. What is it, Clem?"

"Why did you help him?"

Ben looks speechless, a bit guilty, and slightly ashamed – I don't blame him.

"I know you were with him at their cabin," I confront, "You burned it to the ground with Carver! Sarah and I almost died!"

"It wasn't me! I tried to talk him out of it, I swear!" Ben says, waving his hands in defense.

"But did you stop him?"

Sighing, Ben puts his face in his hands for a moment, as if admitting his mistakes. "I know I fucked up, Clem. Hell, that's been the story of my life… But I swear to you, I didn't have a choice! You saw how forceful the guy was – he would've tossed me out of the group. I couldn't handle being out on my own again!"

"Well, how long were you with them for? Luke told me you guys knew each other for a while," I explain, folding my arms across my chest.

"It…" Ben stammers, looking like he's going to get grounded by his parents or something, "I got there just over two years ago…"

"You've got to be kidding me…"

"I had nowhere else to go! Carver found me and took me in. Things were going alright for a while, but then Luke and Carver started having disagreements all the time, and then Rebecca started showing which only made things worse… Luke asked me if I wanted to leave with them but I said no. We had food and protection, and for the most part he wasn't ever angry at me so I didn't see a reason to leave."

Calming down a little bit, he opens the hallway door as we both step outside. It's near mid-day, so you can pretty much see everything this place had to offer now. We both decide to go exploring the civil war museum to pass the time and possibly catch up some more.

First up is a shattered display case with an old American flag and an old rifle that soldiers used to use. We could see if it could take down a walker, but if the broken glass was any indication, someone already had the same idea. That means it probably doesn't work anymore.

"Why'd you leave Carley and Lilly, anyway? We found each other in Savannah," I explain as I run my hand along the smooth surface of the gun. It'd probably be too heavy for me to use, but it's still pretty cool to look at.

"They kicked me out."

Immediately I turn around, demanding an explanation. There's no way they would've done that without any explanation – Carley always liked Ben, and even Lilly wasn't _that_ cruel.

"Remember the bandits?" I nod as he asks me. "Well… it was pretty dumb of me, now that I think about it. But they told me that they had a friend of mine, and that I had to give them supplies or else they'd kill her right in front of me. So when the runs started drying up, I stopped giving them stuff, thinking they'd just leave us alone. You know what happened next – Kenny takes off, and we can't find you. I told Lilly and Carley, and they sent me out on my own."

"You sound pretty bitter about it," I point out as we approach an antique compass that was right next to a wax war re-enactment.

"Yeah, well, Lilly was being a real jerk about it. It was basically a "leave or die" situation. Carley had to restrain her from killing me right there. I haven't even looked at her let alone talked to her."

"I don't even think she'd care anymore, Ben," I advise, sighing as I look at the red vs. blue situation going on with the wax figures. This is something that Lee would've spent hours looking over.

"He would've loved this," I whisper, blowing dust off the information sign. "He was always talking about history stuff, and usually I wouldn't pay much attention. Kind of makes me wish I had."

"I'm sorry…"

"No need," I reply, getting out of my stupor as I shake my head, "Lee would've wanted us to move on, anyway."

The sound of rushing footsteps echo through the hallway, and we turn around to see a panting Nick come up to us. "It's Rebecca," he pants, pointing back towards the entrance, "they think she's going into labour… and there's some walkers trying to get in."

"Shit," Ben curses as he pulls out his pistol, "What should we do?"

"You and I need to go take care of those lurkers, and Clem," he directs to me, finally taking command for once, "we'll get you to Rebecca, Luke and everyone else."

"What am I supposed to use for a weapon?" I ask, slightly nervous about having to go out unprotected.

"We'll cover you, don't worry."

Nick and Ben defending me from walkers… I might as well have a neon sign held up in the air that reads "Three Free Meals". I'm not worried, Nick – I'm terrified! Seriously, I'm not liking our chances right now.

…..

I stick to the two of them like glue as we get outside and run as fast as we can. If it's like Nick said, then Rebecca's definitely going to have her baby soon – but what does he expect me to do? I ain't no nurse! And… oh no! Carlos isn't around anymore! What in the world are we going to do?!

"That's where they are!" Nick yells, pointing towards another section of the museum. "Quick, Clem, get inside! We'll watch your back!"

"Umm, guys? We've got company!" Ben says as a group of walkers come waddling towards us. Seriously, don't these things ever quit?!

"We're low on ammo, man," Nick states, looking nervously at Ben, "I hope your aim's gotten better."

"I can handle it," Ben replies with a new-found confidence that I've never seen on him before. Maybe it's just adrenaline kicking in him, but whatever it is I'll take it as a good thing.

"Be careful," I warn as I open the door before peeling inside. This place isn't much different from the rest of Parker's Run – dirty, decrepit and falling apart. From here, I can hear Rebecca giving off pained yells every now and again, indicating that they're in some old kiosk of some kind.

Luke's keeping watch out in the hallway, and quickly motions for me as he sees me walk inside.

"Is she having it now?"

"Yeah, Bonnie and Jane are in there workin' with her. They're some people that we busted out of the camp," he explains, but his expression grows dark.

"What _else _happened, Luke? Where's everyone else? Ben and Nick are outside," I ask, my nerves officially shot. Why is it that as soon as I get back everything falls apart?

"We found Sarita…" he continues, running a hand through his hair, "She came in this morning, but… she was bitten. Badly. Kenny's stuck her in the janitor's closet and won't let anyone else inside. Duck's over there with 'em."

"God…" I whisper, so sick of how many people that I'd call friends have died recently. I seem to be almost immune to it by now, which is sad in itself, but thankfully I didn't get to know Kenny's girlfriend that well.

But Kenny did.

"Is Lilly there too?" I ask, noticing that he didn't mention her. Luke just shrugs his shoulders and says that he doesn't know where she is. I'm not too worried about her, as she's proven time and time again that she can take care of herself. I think she actually prefers being alone sometimes. It's Kenny that I'm worried about.

If he's not letting anyone in, that can only mean trouble.

"We need to go talk to Kenny," I say urgently, not giving Luke much of a chance to argue. "Maybe he'll listen to us if we all go together."

"Hell, Clem, if he won't even let his own son talk him out of it, what makes you think – "

"ARGHHHH! OH MY GOD!"

"Just hang on Rebecca, okay? This'll be over in no time."

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONE GIVING BIRTH HERE!"

"Jesus… sounds like she's in a shit-ton of pain," Luke grimaces, "Can't imagine going through that."

"Luke, where's Sarah? Nick told me about… Carlos," I mention, worried for the fifteen year old. Sure, with her dad around she was relatively stable, but whenever they got separated she'd start freaking out. "Sarah's out there, probably scared and confused. Do you know where she might have gone?"

"Umm… maybe…"

"Maybe?" I repeat, growing slightly impatient.

"She could've changed direction, but I saw where she was heading off to. The problem is that Sarah's a little unpredictable – she might have just sprinted off somewhere and we'd have no idea how to find her."

"That doesn't mean we can't try!" I argue, glancing back worriedly as Rebecca yells again.

"Well I never said we'd give up," Luke replies, "But there's only one place I know where she may have gone. It's a long shot, but it's all we've got. Just let Kenny know that we're heading out, and get him to give you a gun."

_That shouldn't be difficult at all, _I think sarcastically, knowing full well how protective Kenny gets over his firearms. And if what Luke told me is true, then he might not even be willing to let me leave.

But I'm not Kenny's daughter, and his son is already back.

Sure enough, Kenny is slouched against the wall with Duck hovering around him, both not saying or doing anything. Duck looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but there, and Kenny seems focused on the janitor's closet door, as if his gaze alone is enough to keep out all intruders. This isn't a good sign.

"Guys?" I ask quietly, approaching them carefully as to not shock them too much.

"Good to see still kicking," Duck jokes, smiling towards me, "You scared us pretty badly back in the river. I was asking Lilly if I could take some of your stuff."

"Har de har har," I reply, sticking my tongue out playfully. "I don't have anything you'd want anyway."

Shaking his head and giggling, he motions toward my hat. "How did that not fall off? It's like you glued it to your head."

Shrugging my shoulders, I feel thankful that Duck's spirits haven't died, especially after what Lilly had told me earlier. Maybe he doesn't realize just how dangerous their situation either. I don't really understand it that well either, as I'm only eleven years old, but I didn't ask Lilly mjch about it. Maybe Duck just wants to keep it a secret.

"Kenny," I change subjects, shifting my attention towards the old fisherman, "are you… what happened to your eye?"

How I didn't notice this before is beyond me, but his left eye is all bandaged up, with dried blood staining the bandages. It looks incredibly painful, and I have a feeling that he won't be able to see unless it gets treated properly – which at this point, without Carlos, seems unlikely.

Kenny doesn't budge at all. His gaze doesn't even come off the door, so Duck shifts uncomfortably beside him.

"He said some guy named Carver beat him… I hope he got what was coming to him," Duck explains, and I feel like I want to hurl. I know that I shouldn't feel guilty about it, but I can't help it. Every time somebody even mentions his name my stomach turns into knots.

But I shake it off. I have to get what I came here for in the first place.

"Kenny, I need to take your gun with me. Luke says he might know where Sarah is, and I can't let him go by myself – please?"

"But you just got here!" Duck protests, "What happens if we get overrun?"

"You won't."

"You don't know that."

"You guys can handle it," I sigh, slightly touched that I've got such a good friend. "But I don't have a weapon with me, and I _will _be in trouble if I don't have one with me."

Again, Kenny doesn't move a muscle. Man, this must really be affecting the poor guy.

Duck sighs in defeat, and to my shock pulls out his own pistol and reaches out to me.

"If he won't do it, then take mine. If you make it back in one piece, you totally owe me for this."

"Alright," I agree, smirking as I jog down back to Luke, "I won't prank you for a week!"

"That's not a fair trade!"

"Too _baaaaddddd!_" I reply in a chirpy voice, meeting Luke near the door.

"Ready?" he asks, giving one last look to the kiosk.

"Yeah, let's go."

As soon as we step outside, we hear the muffled cries of Nick as a walker gets the jump on him and takes a bite out of his side.


	14. Trailer park boys and girls

"…Nick?"

"Luke, we can't… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."

"We can… I can do something!"

"Luke," I console, placing a pleading hand onto his shoulder, "We can't. Trying to cut it off will kill him, you know that."

"NO!" he roars, breaking free of my grasp and slowly stepping towards him, "He's my best friend, and I ain't abandoning him! He… he can fight this off. Nick's tough as nails, I know he is!"

My body shakes with grief as I watch their exchange. Luke approaches Nick slowly, and the young man can't seem to keep himself together. Nick's in a lot of pain, I can tell, but I think the overall shock is affecting him more. His eyes are wide and he keeps on saying how screwed he is.

This needs to end now. Nick can't be left to turn, and all three of us know it.

But where did Ben run off to?

"This is so fucked up…" Nick exclaims, trying desperately to slap himself awake in case he was dreaming. Unfortunately, he isn't, and there's nothing he can do about it. "Don't… don't leave me to turn, man! I can't handle that! You gotta do something!"

"But… there's gotta be a way, dude! I mean, how bad is it? Maybe we can try cutting around it," Luke pleads, knowing full well that the wound is too deep and the infection's probably already started.

"Luke, be honest with me, man. I'm a goner," Nick argues, slamming his hat on the ground in frustration. "This is such BS! That's what I get for telling Ben to run! This is fucked! This whole thing is so fucked!"

Luke's breaking down into occasional sobs, but Nick's already turned towards me. It doesn't take a mind reader to realize what he wants me to do.

"Nick… I can't, you know that."

"It'll be quick – please, I ain't gonna have much time here. I don't wanna come back! I'll just stand over by the tree…"

"Oh god…" Luke whimpers, holding his hand in his hands, "This can't be happening… Christ… damn it all!"

With every ounce of strength I possess, I reluctantly nod my head and agree to Nick's request, knowing full well that if the roles were switched, I would've asked him to do the same to me. Becoming a walker… nobody should have to go through that, even though millions of people probably already have.

"Take… take care of yourself, Luke. Clem," he nods towards the both of us before looking to the sky with closed eyes. "Hang on, Mom, Uncle Pete – I'm coming home…"

Shakily I raise the gun in front of me, tears forming in my eyes. Even though he could be a dick at times, Nick and I actually grew pretty close. Though we only knew each other for a short period of time, I still consider him a friend. It just makes this so much harder.

Turning the safety off, I pull the trigger, realizing that I practically never miss anymore.

This time is no exception.

…

"She's gotta be in here somewhere. She has to be," I whisper hopefully, determined not to have any more unnecessary deaths. Nick is still edged heavily into our minds, and Luke really isn't taking it well. I practically had to force him to get up and help me get here – I'm pretty sure the only reason he moved at all is that there was a chance of finding Sarah.

We are sitting on the edge of what looked like a trailer park, keeping our eyes peeled. Something tells me this place isn't abandoned – whether it's by people or walkers I can't say. Most of the trailers around us have been permanently placed into the ground, and I imagine that for some people these used to be their home.

"What should we do?" I ask Luke, who seems to have gained some form of composure, although his eyes are still red and puffy from crying earlier.

"Umm," he muses, sniffling as he looks around, "Splitting up probably wouldn't be the best idea, not after what happened the last time we did that. Let's start poking around a bit, maybe we'll hear her."

He's about to creep forward, but I put a hand on his arm reassuringly and stop him.

"Are you alright?" I ask, sympathy etched into my features.

Thankfully, he nods his head and smiles back sadly. "I'll be alright, thanks kiddo. Let's just find her and get out of here."

"Find who?"

Our breaths both hitch in our throat as we stare wide-eyed at a tall, skinny guy with brown-rimmed glasses and shaggy hair. He sort of reminds me of a geekier-looking Ben, but you can't judge a book by its cover.

Especially when that book's holding a hunting rifle straight at your head.

"Mind telling me why you folks are sneaking around our campsite?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Look man, just uh, put the gun down, okay?" Luke tries to reason, holding his hands up defensively, "We're not trying to steal anything… we're just looking for our friend."

"Your friend, huh?" the man relents, lowering the weapon carefully in case we try anything, "Wouldn't happen to be a little girl would it?"

"Yes! She's a bit taller than this girl me, has dark hair and glasses! Have you seen her?" I ask, relief washing over the both of us as the stranger nods.

"She's a little worse for wear, but yeah, she came through here bawling her eyes out and screaming – one of my buddies almost got a black eye when he tried calming her down. She's in the trailer just up ahead, I can show you if you'd like?" 

He certainly won't hear any argument from me, but Luke seems a bit hesitant. I can see why, especially after just having lost his best friend not even an hour ago, but I for one want to cling onto at least a little bit of happiness for a change.

Besides, what kind of sick, twisted person would lie about something this important?

"You folks living around here? Seemed odd to me that your friend would just run off like that," our guide comments, looking back to us as he lead us to a beat-up looking trailer, "You're not running some slave camp around here, are you? Because I could've just kept my mouth shut."

"Her dad's dead, asshole," Luke replies dryly.

"Luke…" I warn, not wanting to start a fight and blow our only chance of getting her back. "She's just had a rough time, that's all."

"Yeah, well, hasn't everybody? I mean, most of the people I cared about either died or disappeared."

"She's… different," I explain, silencing him as he leads us to the door. "Maybe I should be the one to talk to her, Luke. I'll be out in a bit."

"Yeah, sure thing."

Poking my head inside, I don't see anybody at first. All I can see is a little kitchen set and some cabinets, but… hold on.

There she is – wrapped up in a ball on one of the pull-out couches, just like I pictured she'd be. Her body randomly shakes from time to time, showing that she's no doubt got the hiccups from crying so much. Her glasses are thrown carelessly on the floor with little cracks in the lenses, but I don't think she'd appreciate me giving her a lecture on taking care of your stuff.

"Sarah?" I ask quietly, approaching the girl as if I was trying to diffuse an atomic bomb. I don't want to startle her, but I don't want to just stand there looking like an idiot either. "It's… it's me, Clementine."

As I sit down next to her on the bed, she immediately engulfs me in a huge, gripping hug that I return.

"Clem… m-my dad… and I thought you were dead too…"

"Shh… it's okay, Sarah. It's alright, I haven't gone anywhere."

Is this kind of what it's like for a parent looking after their child? To calm them down, make them sure that they're going to be alright? I wonder if I'm doing an okay job then – it's a lot harder to tell when you haven't had any previous experience, and even more so when the person you're calming down is older than you.

I wonder if Lee felt as overwhelmed when he looked after me…

"When… when Carver took you, we all tried to break the door down. It was _really _scary when he had a gun to your head, but then the walkers started… you know. And then… my dad…"

"It's okay, you don't have to continue," I soothe, letting go to sit with her on the edge of the mattress.

"How did you get back? Did Carver let you go or something?" she asks.

"Don't worry about it," I reply, biting my lip hard. That's pretty much the answer I've been giving everyone lately. "But I'm here now – we've been looking for you for a while. You're not that easy to track down, you know."

"Oh, I'm sorry…" she apologizes, looking downcast and reminding me that it's not Duck who I'm talking to here. Plus, she's just been through a really tough time.

Something about her just compels me to open up about my past a little bit.

"I lost my parents too."

"Yeah, I kinda figured… that must've been really hard."

"Yeah," I sigh, saddened by the fact that I'll never get to see them again. They were taken away (along with many others) far too soon. "But you know what helped me through it?"

"What?" she asks, wiping away a few stray tears as I hand her glasses back to her.

"My friends," I explain, rocking back and forth on the bed for fun. "You, Luke, Rebecca, Ben… all of you guys. Friends look out for one another, like a –"

"Family?" she finishes, getting a reassuring nod from me.

"Exactly. No matter what happens, we'll get through it together. We're… we're a team, Sarah."

"Yeah… you're right," Sarah nods before hugging me tightly once again, "Thanks, Clem. You're the best."

"Any time," I respond, "Well, Luke's out there waiting for us. Are you alright to move?"

"I think so."

"Cool, then let's – "

"_Oh shit! Grab something, dude!"_

"_Like what?!" _Luke yells, his voice muffled by the door, "_My stuff's over there, and I can't get to it! Wait, you think a rake is gonna kill one of them lurkers?!"_

"Damn it," I swear under my breath, grabbing Sarah by the arm forcefully and running to the door of the cabin, "Stay behind me, okay?"

Pulling the door open, we both gasp as we see about four walkers closing in on Luke, with our guide fumbling to put another round into his gun. Acting quickly, I pull out my own pistol and fire into the heads of two of the walkers, before Luke grapples with one of the remaining two.

The other dead guy seems to have focused his attention on us now, and I curse my stupidity for not checking how many bullets Duck's gun had left in it. Sarah stares wide-eyed in shock, almost as if she was caught in a trance, at the approaching monster. The monsters in her books have got nothing on the real things.

"Back inside!" I command, expecting Sarah to come with me. But of course she doesn't, and it's just a matter of time before the walker chomps down on her to delve into its snack. "SARAH!"

The guide's gun fires just in the nick of time, landing a straight headshot that spilled blood all over Sarah's clothes. She's alive, but just barely.

"Phew… little too close there, don't you think?" he comments, wiping the hypothetical sweat off of his forehead.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Sarah whimpers, sounding broken and innocent, "I panicked and I didn't know what to do…"

"It's alright, hon, don't worry about it," Luke replies, placing a brotherly hand upon her shoulder. "We'd best be getting out of here quickly though, just in case our luck runs out."

Turning towards her savior, I smile and nod my head in appreciation.

"Thank you, mister…?"

"Just call me Arvo," he replies, shrugging his shoulders. "It's an old nickname my friends from school used to call me – they watched some stupid movie on TV one night, said that I looked like the horse. That's what its name was, but honestly I think they must've been drunk as skunks that night. The name kinda just stuck."

"Nice," I comment, stifling back a giggle, "Well, I'm Clementine. These two are Luke and Sarah."

"Well, nice to meet you, I guess," Arvo replies, giving me a little smile of his own, "Alright, I probably won't see you folks again, so good luck surviving out there and everything."

"Wait, that's it? You save her life and just walk away? Don't you want something in return?" I ask; confused as to why he didn't at least want a favour or anything. I'm fairly certain that Luke's urging for me to be quiet, but the Lee part of me is wanting to at least try and help this guy out.

"Look, Clementine," he explains, sighing as he turns back towards us, "I know you mean well, and you guys seem like an okay bunch, but my group's got a system going here. We only interact with other people if we absolutely _have to_. We keep a low profile, don't have too many people around, and we keep each other safe. Just take me saving her for what it is and move on."

"If you guys are keeping a low profile, then shouldn't you go somewhere with more protection?" Luke asks, suspicion etched on his face. "Seems to me like you're pretty open to walker attacks."

"This one's the first one we've had in a month, and we've got the high ground if they do come out," he states flatly, patting the trailer with a loud clang, "Then you guys show up and bring them along with you."

"Are you fucking serious – "

"Luke, that's enough!" I intervene, stopping this from escalating further, "Let's just go… please?"

Taking one last hard look at Arvo, Luke sighs heavily and motions for us to follow. Sarah quickly walks behind him like a scared, little bunny.

I look back at Arvo one last time, who's raised an eyebrow in confusion. Without him even saying anything, I know what he's asking.

Why are you tagging along in such a dysfunctional group?

_AN: At last, the trailer for episode four has finally come out! All aboard the hype train! CHOO CHOO!_

_Heh heh… always wanted to do that :p_

_Anyways, I don't know if his name will actually be Arvo, but I think I may have saw it somewhere on the wiki page for the game… I could be completely wrong, but who knows? It might even be the guy with the glasses in the (spoiler) trailer. Either way, hope you're enjoying this!_

_And get psyched for the next episode, because it looks like really hard-hitting stuff!_


	15. Broken

Something feels… wrong. Very, very wrong, and no, it's not the fact that Luke is having trouble controlling his emotions as we walk past the deceased form of Nick – already having been torn apart by a few walkers that we put down once we return.

It's not the fact that Sarah has become so timid and anxious that she hasn't let go of my hand for the last thirty minutes. It's not even the fact that I don't see any walkers, which creeps me out itself because the herd should have tracked us down by now.

No, it's none of those things.

What's wrong is that as we enter the museum, I hear nothing. No pained screams from Rebecca, no sounds of a newborn baby crying, no frantic apologies from Ben about Nick… nothing like that.

The only thing we can hear is the sound of our own breaths, which slow down considerably as we see a shaken-up Bonnie come out of the kiosk along with Jane. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened.

"Fuck…" Luke swears as he kicks over a garbage can that rolls lazily to the floor. Sarah seems too shocked and grieved to say anything. As for me, I'm still wondering how this world manages to get crueler every day. All this pain, loss and suffering… is it ever going to stop?

"They didn't make it…" Bonnie mumbles almost incomprehensibly, "Rebecca… we tried, but the stress was too much on her and the baby. Stillborn… Jane had to… put them down."

"Them?" I repeat quietly, before realization kicks in and I sink to the floor, holding my hat over my face so that people won't see. Oh my god… what was supposed to be a happy occasion has just made a turn for the worse. Rebecca, Nick, the baby, Carlos… within two days they all died. How are we supposed to recover from this? My pep talk with Sarah a little while ago now seems like a big slap in the face.

There's just no justice in the world anymore. I… I didn't even get to say goodbye.

"Was it a boy, or a girl?" I ask pitifully, as if that question matters at all. It's not as if I was able to meet them anyway.

"Boy," Jane replies solemnly, to which I nod, and continue to stare at the floor in silence. Just like Alvin would've wanted, too.

The door opens behind us, but nobody turns around to look. A big, African-American man wanders into the room kind of awkwardly, and after Luke explains to him what happened, he looks visibly shaken up. Apparently the guy's name is Mike, and he was another person at the hardware store, but I don't pay much attention. I'm too sucked into my own little world.

"We should have a funeral… for all of them," I announce, wiping away a few tears. Nobody seems to budge at first, except for Sarah who's leaning against the wall with her face in her sleeve, but Luke nods slowly.

"Yeah, I think so too," he says, beckoning for me to join him outside. "We can set up a little memorial thingy over by those picnic tables. It's the least we can do."

…

The two of us stare at our handiwork, all at once proud, exhausted and sad. Neither of us are religious by any means, but a cross is the only thing we could think of to mark where our friends would be at peace. Of course we can't recover the bodies, as Carlos was lost and Nick just made us feel sick looking at what those monsters did to him. And nobody wanted to go back into the room with Rebecca and her child.

It's a nice little setup we've created out here – nothing too over the top obviously, as we had to make do with what limited supplies we could find. It's literally just two sticks tied together, and they're really flimsy-looking. There's no way to mark which cross is for which person, but I doubt it matters at all. All that matters is that they mean something – they hold value deep in our hearts.

"We did good kid," Luke whispers, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close to him, "I bet they'd be grateful for this."

"I hope so," I sigh, leaning into his side and closing my eyes for a moment. That's one of the things I liked about Luke – he always brought out the best in the crappy situations. Kind of like how Lee used to.

_Sigh… _I'm never going to get him out of my head, am I?

We watch as Sarah tearfully comes up to our memorial and places her hand on one of the crosses, as if trying to communicate with her dad somehow. She's taking this about as hard as I expected, but it still hurts to see the girl in such turmoil.

"Clem?" he asks, looking down to my gaze.

"Hmm?"

"What are you going to do now?"

"I haven't really thought about it, but I guess Wellington's our only option left now, isn't it?" I ask, wondering where he was going with this. "And don't you mean _we_?"

Sighing, he gazes upon Nick's memorial, pausing and not answering me at first. Luke seems like he's contemplating something, but I don't know what. Come on, Luke! Let me in.

"That's what I wanted to ask you about, actually."

Oh no, not again. I CANNOT go through this again. I just can't.

"This group's cracking, Clem. Kenny's on the edge of a total breakdown, and I know his kid won't abandon him, but… I just wanna survive. And that means picking the right sides."

"I literally just found them, Luke," I remind, turning to face him, "Our old group split up before, and nobody knew if our friends were alive or not. Please don't ask me to do this."

"Clem, please, just hear me out on this."

Very reluctantly, I nod and usher him to continue. That of course doesn't mean that I'll like it though.

"Look, I know you care about them, but…" he stops, sitting at one of the picnic tables as I come over to join him. "You don't want to be around when they start turning on each other… turning on you."

"They won't, we've learned from before," I respond defiantly, determined that my old group (what's left of it) won't run off like back then. That's looking at you, Kenny! Don't ever give him an RV!

"I know that _you_ have, but I don't think the rest have forgiven each other… if they ever will."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you should come with Bonnie, Sarah and I," he explains, holding his chin in his palm as he leans over the picnic table. "We could make a break for the countryside. I don't think trekking all the way to Wellington is a good idea, especially since we don't even know for sure if it's safe or not. Besides, that's a solid month's worth of walking there – do you really think we'll last with such a big group?"

At this point, my face is buried in my hands as I try to soak all of this in. Seriously, this is the worst case of déjà vu that I've ever had, because this time it'll be final. If I take off with Luke, that means I'll never see Lilly, Duck, Kenny or Ben ever again (if Ben's even still here, I have no idea). But if I stay with the rest and go to Wellington, then the opposite will be true.

So why the hell am I second-guessing myself _again_? God damn it, what if Luke's right this time?

"What makes you think it's better out in the country? We don't know anything for sure," I explain, rubbing my forehead to get rid of this ridiculous headache I'm getting.

"Well there's bound to be some farms – "

"So you don't know."

"Clementine…"

"Why are you doing this?" I ask, hurt that he's suggesting this in the first place. "Okay, so we're not the best people to be around, I get it. Everything was probably going pretty well for you guys until I showed up and brought them with me. But… you don't know them like I do, Luke. They're all I've got left…"

Biting his lip, Luke drums his fingers over the rough surface of the picnic table, creating a steady beat that I find incredibly distracting. Why is it he can never answer my questions directly?

"I know this isn't easy," he stops, folding his hands together, "but you'd be safer if you came with us."

"You don't know that…"

"_WHICH ONE OF YOU FUCKERS DID IT?!" _

Both of us turn towards the source of the yelling coming from inside, so we quickly drop our conversation and turn tail into the museum. As I expect, Kenny's got his fists clenched super tightly and is glaring a hole through the rest of the group – though I can tell in his eyes there's an overwhelming sadness that's developing.

This can only mean one thing.

"Sarita…" I breathe out, and Luke's shaking his head in disbelief. We totally forgot about Kenny keeping her in the janitor's closet, and building a grave for her completely slipped our minds. Duck's standing a few feet away from him, but he doesn't even look very fazed. I'm sure he's saddened for his father, but Duck didn't know the woman very well to begin with.

"Who?!" Kenny yells again, lining up everyone as if it was a military school. "Somebody here MURDERED her, and nobody's goin' anywhere until I find out which one of you bastards did it! So, who's gonna fess up?!"

"Would you quit pointing your finger already? None of us were in there, asshole!" Jane barks, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at him. I'm not gonna lie: Jane scares me a little bit.

"Yeah? Well the fucking bullet in Sarita's brain begs to differ!" Kenny retorts, his one good eye flashing dangerously around. His gaze sort of softens when it lands on me, and I'm glad that we seem to have patched things up, but almost everyone else is on very thin ice.

"Ben…" he mentions lowly and venomously, "Was it you, you little shitbird? I didn't see you at all today…"

Wow, I didn't even notice that Ben got back. I hold onto Luke's arm in case he tries to rip his head off about Nick, but thankfully he gets my message. Instead, he simply glares at the kid and continues to watch the exchange.

"No! I swear, I didn't do anything! I was just out hiding from walkers!"

"Yeah, instead of helping out Nick," Luke points out, crossing his arms, "And now he's gone too. He'd still be here if you hadn't chickened out!"

Well, so much for the restraint, Luke…

"Hey, Nick told me to run, man… I'm sorry about your friend, but he didn't give me a choice! So don't put that shit on me!" Ben defends himself, trapped between a rock and a hard place.

"Stop it…" I murmur, sadness building up in me as I realize what this could lead to. Even if Luke's hell-bent on getting away from this place, I would do my best to try and make things peaceful.

"Maybe instead of making up fuckin' excuses, you should grow a pair and take responsibility for your actions! Ben, I swear to god, if it was you…" Kenny threatens, slowly stepping forward as the younger guy becomes more terrified by the second.

"Come on, Kenny, once was enough! Don't start this shit, or it's gonna be just like the motor – "

Suddenly, Kenny rushes forward and pins Ben to the wall by the scruff of his jacket; his hand clenched dangerously around his neck. He hasn't choked him yet, as if he's giving Ben one last shot before he ends his life. Everyone besides Duck and I are standing around, shocked yet unwilling to do anything about it.

"I'll give you to the count of three…"

"Fuck off, Kenny! It wasn't me!"

"One…"

"Kenny, don't do this!" I beg of him, grabbing his jacket sleeve uselessly.

"Two…"

"Dad, come on! Give him a chance – I don't think he'd lie!" Duck adds, but still yielding no results.

This could be the breaking point, just as Luke had said to me not even five minutes ago. And it wouldn't just be Kenny snapping, because sadly this isn't the first time that he's lost his cool like this. But killing Ben would just let the match connect with the gasoline – meaning it'll cause an explosion so bad that I'd immediately need to choose who I'm going with, leading to guilt trips and the like. I'm bracing for impact, looking away as Kenny's grip tightens, and…

"I did it."

Slowly releasing his chokehold on Ben, but not releasing him entirely, Kenny (and everyone else) turns their head towards Lilly, who's just appeared out of thin air. She's standing firm; holding her ground and matching Kenny's glare of rage with a steely cool one. But I need some time to process this: _Lilly _killed Sarita?!

"You fucking bitch…"

"She was dying, Kenny."

"You don't know that!" he says the words that I had just said moments ago, though in a totally different context. "She was perfectly fine in there until you showed up, and now she's lying in a pool of her own blood. You murdered my girl, Lilly, so you'd better get moving before I get even angrier…"

I notice that Duck seems a bit on edge after Kenny refers to Sarita in that way, and I can see why. For him, the only woman who would ever truly have been in his and his father's life was Katjaa. Replacing her must've seemed like an insult to the poor kid.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lilly retorts harshly, getting prepared for an inevitable shouting match. "It's just like you said two years ago, right?! It had to be FUCKING DONE!"

Ooh, shots fired!

"So that's what this is, eh? You still haven't forgiven me for it, even though you knew he was going one way or another? And so you just wanted some fucking petty revenge?! IS THAT WHAT THIS WAS?!"

"Clem…" Luke whispers into my ear, disengaging me from their conversation, "What are they talking about? What happened?"

Oh boy, here we go again…

"Can I tell you later?" I ask, "It's kind of a long story."

"Well, was it something real messed up? I mean, it sounds to me like Kenny fucked up _real _bad."

"Don't try to convince me to come with you, Luke. We need to stay together," I remind him, seeing what he was trying to pull. The guy was persistent, I'll give him that.

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Sure it wasn't."

Ben doesn't really seem to know what he should do. At this point, he probably feels like everybody's against him – Luke and Bonnie were his only real friends left at the camp, Kenny and Lilly pretty much don't give a damn about him, and he probably figures that neither I nor Duck trust him anymore.

I'll admit, he's had his fair share of mistakes, and some of them are difficult to forgive. But… that doesn't mean I can forget the times we all played together at the motor-inn, or when he'd give me part of his rations when he felt I hadn't gotten enough. I couldn't forget the times that he'd give me piggy-back rides when we got bored, or the times that we drew together with Duck out in the parking lot.

Looking hard enough, I can still see those qualities within him… it's just more difficult to tell these days.

"You're a real piece of work, ain't ya?" Kenny snarls, pointing an accusatory finger at Lilly. I'm actually kind of surprised that they haven't even attempted to kill each other yet. "You were always giving me a hard time back then, and now you've come to ruin our lives again! It never stops with you, does it?!"

"I looked after your son for _two years _you ungrateful shit! They survived because of me!" she shouts, pointing to me and Duck.

She's not lying, that's for sure. If Lilly hadn't taken us at Lee's request, then we probably wouldn't have even made it out of Savannah let alone Georgia.

"No," Kenny argues, his face burning red with anger, "they survived because they're smart kids who worked with each other – something that clearly you need help with!"

"This is such bullshit… there's no reasoning with you! Sarita was bit, Kenny. I'd tell you to open your god-damn eyes, but is that even physically possible for you anymore?"

"Stop fighting!" I chime in, doing my best to look cross. "You're both acting like a bunch of babies! This isn't helping anyone!"

"She's right," Luke agrees, stepping in between the two adults, "We need to figure out some sort of plan – where we're going and whatnot. You can hash all this out some other time."

"I'd stay out of this boy," Kenny warns, not taking his good eye off of Lilly.

"Fuck this," Jane grunts, suddenly turning to walk out the front door. Was this happening even sooner than I thought it would? I don't know the woman at all, but still!

"Where the hell are you going?" Bonnie asks, dumbfounded that she'd have the guts to just pack up and go off on her own.

Jane just shrugs as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

"I've seen this crap before, and I'm not sticking around for you people to get me killed," she then turns towards me for some reason and gives me a curt nod. "Don't let them bring you down with them."

Mike takes a quick look around, sighs and apologizes to Luke and Bonnie, before turning around and following Jane outside. They must have been closer than I had originally thought. We all stand there in silence as we hear the front door close, leaving me in a very awkward position right now.

"So… what happens now?" Sarah asks, breaking free of her position on the wall. I don't think anyone really knows the answer to that though. Kenny still looks incredibly angry, but he's simmered down a little bit. I think the realization must have kicked in: Sarita was going one way or another.

That doesn't mean he's forgiven her though by any means.

"You stay the fuck away from my family," he warns, giving her a very threatening glare. "You don't come near me, Duck or Clementine, do you understand?"

Wait, what?!

"Don't make her a part of this… And what makes you a part of her family, anyway?! All you've done is piss off everyone around you, scare the kid shitless, and fight with Lee every chance you got!"

"Well she certainly doesn't need you around anymore, that's for damn sure!"

"I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY ANYMORE! THEY'RE DEAD! MOM, DAD, LEE, EVERYONE! THEY'RE ALL DEAD! SO JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I scream, my voice shocking everyone into silence as I sprint out the door and collapse near the picnic tables, trying my best not to attract any walkers that might be around.

I've just got to stay strong, just like I told myself all that time ago. I won't break down any more than I already have, because quite frankly that whole scene was humiliating.

But there's a large, burning part of me that just wants to spring out like a leaky faucet and release all the raw emotion that I've been stuffing down over the last two years.

"Hey, you okay?" Luke asks softly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as I breathe in a sharp intake of air.

Shifting a bit, I gaze upon our memorials one last time, but for some reason it feels like we haven't done enough. Rebecca and her baby deserved better than what I gave to them – hopefully I haven't failed their memories.

"No."


	16. Trauma

AN: If you haven't played episode four, then read at your own risk. Obviously it won't be the exact same thing, but I've taken pieces

"_Great… just fucking perfect. Look what you've gone and done now? If you'd have just used your brain and saw your girlfriend for what she was, then none of this would've happened!"_

"_I've got half a mind to blow your brains out right now – and I don't think anyone here's gonna mind…"_

"_Yeah, go ahead, Kenny – do it. Show them how much you care about this group. Show them the real you! The one who left us all for dead back in Macon!"_

"_I was looking out for MY FAMILY! How many god-damn times do I need to remind you of that?! And you know what else?! If you, Carley and Ben had all stayed gone, then we'd have already been on our way to someplace safe. But noooo, we have to go swimmin' through a motherfucking ocean of walkers just to get to some hospital…"_

"_Clem and Lee were still there! They would've died if we just left! Can't you think about anyone but yourself for a fucking change?"_

"_Lee didn't give a DAMN about anyone but himself!"_

For the first time in my life, I feel utterly hopeless. There's no way I can fix what's been done – we're way too divided now. Luke, Lilly and Kenny all want me on their side, but what they don't realize is that I don't have a side. Sides get you killed in this world – there's no right or wrong, good or bad. Moral judgements have to be put aside for survival at times.

I'll go wherever my chances are best… and if that means leaving some friends behind, then so be it.

"You wanna come for a walk with me? There's a building not too far from here… figured we might as well check the place out. You know, supplies and junk," Luke asks, getting absolutely no response from me.

I haven't taken my eyes off the crosses in at least five minutes, just beating myself up for all the stupid mistakes I've made. Running off on Lee and getting him and Carley both killed, getting careless at the hardware store… And I'm sure there's a boat-load of other things I've done that just make me want it all to stop. Why are we continuing to live this way, just to see everyone die?

"Come on," Luke insists, "They've got a cannon – it's pretty cool."

"Was that supposed to persuade me?"

"Well, did it work?"

Rubbing my eyes and stepping off of the bench, I follow him down a dirt path.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Luke concludes, not bothering to tell the others where we're going. Not that it matters very much though – I doubt they'll notice that we even left, what with all the bickering they've been doing.

It takes us a while to get where he says we're going, but eventually I see what he was on about: a big, rickety-looking observation deck… but it only had one cannon.

"Was this place always so empty?" I ask, barely audible to my companion as we pass by some more picnic tables and make our way upstairs.

"Probably… there wasn't much reason for my family to come out this way. And between you and me, civil war history's kinda boring."

Not commenting further, we march up the stairs and split up, with Luke trying to find a way inside while I investigate the rest of the deck.

It appears as though the cannon can still move around, but obviously there's no way of firing it; probably for safety reasons. True to Luke's word, it does look pretty cool though. The paint is tearing away on it after years of not being maintained, but it looks like it must've done some real damage back in the day. Other than that and a few posters lining the wall, there's nothing here except for a couple of telescopes.

"Is there any way inside?" I ask, noticing that Luke seems to be struggling a little bit.

"Well if I could get this damn thing open then MAYBE, but I don't got anything small enough to fit in the lock."

"Here," I gesture, handing him my hunting knife "See if that'll work."

"Yeah, thanks…" he says a little uncertainly, examining it in his hands with a curious expression. "Uh, Clem? Where'd you get this thing from?"

Horrible images of that night flash through my mind once again – darkness enclosing me' trapping me in an unending torment of shock and grief. Re-enacting the scene in my mind, I go up behind one of my captors, take the knife and…

"I killed him…" I whisper, thinking that he didn't hear me. But right away I realize that Luke made out every word.

"Clem, no offense or nothin' but you're kind of freaking me out. What are you talking about?"

"C…Carver… and Troy…" I breathe out, suddenly wanting to hurl myself off the deck and just crawl into a hole to avoid Luke's stare. I knew back in that truck, when Lilly told me that everything would be alright, that she was in fact lying. Nothing's ever that simple, and now that the truth has come out… I can't even begin to imagine what's going through luke's head right now.

"…you couldn't have waited?"

Now _that _is unexpected. Wasn't he the one who was all gung-ho about not killing other people? That they were trying to survive just like we were?

At this moment, I know that I have to try and defend myself.

"I had no other choice… They kidnapped me! What was I supposed to do?!"

"Yeah, I get it Clem, but… Jesus, couldn't you have just like, I don't know, escaped or somethin'?" Luke asks, shaking his head in disbelief. In his eyes, he clearly still sees me as a kid, even though I've proved to him time and time again that I can survive with the best of them.

"And go where?" I ask, frowning as I fold my arms, "You told me yourself how big these woods are."

"Yeah, but you don't just… kill two people like that. You're just a kid, for fuck's sake! Killing is wrong no matter what – that's straight up murder, Clementine!"

Holding my head in my hands, I shake as I try to control myself. Why is it so difficult for him to understand?

"I… I would've died out there. It was him or me, and I acted first."

"Oh, is that all it is? 'Cause to me it seems like you had more than one option available to ya," Luke rants, cursing again as he can't unlock the shudders. "I told you that we'd come get you, no matter what happened. If you had just cooperated with 'em then you wouldn't have had to go through all that…"

"…is that why you couldn't shoot Nick? Because you can't do it? He was dying, Luke, you knew that!"

"Don't," Luke warns, turning around and pointing a finger at me, "Don't fucking bring him into this, you hear? He was my best friend, I loved him like he was my brother."

Sighing heavily, I turn my attention away from him and look into the telescope, ignoring the mutterings that Luke was definitely giving off. I can't remember the last time he's gotten this angry with me over something – it kind of hurts a little bit to be honest.

Peering inside the viewer, I can see across the river and down a little ways, noticing what looks to be some sort of church in the distance. It's a long shot, but maybe it'd be worth a try for a supply run of some sort.

"_Jesus, run! Don't stop, keep going!"_

"What the hell are they doing over here?" Luke asks aloud as we see what's left of the group searching around. I highly doubt that they've patched things up, but that's not the worrying thing at the moment. A huge herd of walkers is slowly gaining on them, and I can tell that Lilly and the rest are running on fumes.

"Over here!" I yell loudly, waving my arms around as Luke does the same. Their only shot at escaping the walkers is if they see us, and luckily Bonnie notices and points towards the observation deck.

Like a herd of elephants they barge upstairs, past the gated fence as Luke shuts it behind them.

"What the hell are you two doing over here?" Lilly scolds, frowning deeply at me in particular, "Ben came outside to check on you guys, but you just totally disappeared! Do you have any idea how reckless that was?!"

"Look, it was my idea – " Luke tries to say, but Lilly's not having any of it. Oh boy… she rarely ever gets mad at me, but even I can tell that I've messed up.

"What if something had happened to you? I told you, Clem – always stay with the group."

"I'm sorry…" I murmur, hanging my head in shame.

"Sorry ain't worth a damn, Clem!" Kenny butts in, surprising me as I see him tearing off some of the walkers' hands with a crowbar. "Think next time!"

Wow… you'd think it was "International Yell at Clementine Day" or something stupid like that. I mean, so what? I made a mistake! It's not as if the rest of these guys haven't had their fair share of them!

"Urghh… shoot these sons o' bitches! This gate's not gonna hold much longer!" Kenny yells, shoving all of his weight against the fence while Bonnie fires off some rounds. Ben and Duck are both catching their breaths, while Sarah has already huddled beside me.

"Are you okay?" I ask softly, squeezing her hand as comfortingly as I can.

"They almost got me… one of them grabbed my leg, but your friend… shot it…" she whimpers, motioning over towards Duck. I nod to the guy in appreciation before turning back towards the older girl.

"Just remember: we're smart, and they're not," I instruct, watching as Luke shoves his machete through the head of one of the walkers. "We're smarter than all of them."

"Not everyone is," Lilly mumbles, staring at the deck in contemplation.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Lilly, seemingly out of her trance, looks up at me with wide eyes. Clearly, I wasn't supposed to hear that.

"Clem, I didn't mean – "

"Fuck! There's too many coming up here! Any ideas would be helpful!" Kenny interrupts as he and Luke both back away slowly.

Okay… think. There's gotta be something we can try. Luke never did manage to get that door open, so it only leaves us with one small room that'll be easy pickings for the walkers to break into. Unless…

"There," I motion, pointing to a cable that supports the rest of the deck, "If we cut that down maybe it'll fall on top of them!"

"I've got it," Ben announces, taking some sort of axe-type thing and running over to where the cable is attached. Unfortunately for us, Ben still seems to lack the common sense that the adults have. He quickly takes chops at the support beam, loosening it each time.

"Ben, wait!" I scream, but to no avail. The cable is broken off and whipped outwards, hitting Kenny in the head and sending him out of commission for the time being. As fate would have it, in an instant part of the deck falls down… sending none other than Duck with it.

We hear the sound of his stomach being punctured, and a sickening scream from the boy's lungs.

If Kenny wasn't incapacitated, I'm pretty sure he'd have been rolling around in complete agony at this point. How is it that nobody else fell off?

Oh shit…

Sarah was also too close to the ledge when Ben chopped it off, but luckily she managed to not be trapped underneath all of the rubble. However, the walkers are closing in on the poor girl, and knowing that she won't last down there, I spring into action and jump downwards, hurting my leg a little bit.

"Quick, get behind me!" I instruct, but as I notice that she's frozen with fear, I forcefully grab her arm and practically toss her to the ground behind me.

We're both panicking a little bit, but it's Duck that I'm more concerned about. He's a little bit more protected from the walkers than we are, but not by much. One of the pillars is blocking their path towards the kid, but if that scream was any indication…

"Clem, look out!" Luke calls as he shoots a walker that was mere inches from my face. I won't get another shot at this, so I have to make it count.

"Luke, grab Sarah's hand!" I yell, pushing her close to the edge and mentally thanking that he was in a good position to pull her upwards. As soon as she's safe and relatively secure, Luke reaches out to me next.

"Come on, kid! It's gotta be NOW!" Luke orders, but I keep looking between the rest of the group and Duck, who's quite literally a sitting duck trapped in there. I remember one day when we had a close call just outside of Savannah with some walkers, except the roles were reversed and Duck had saved my life. After that incident, we made a promise to each other that we'd watch each other's backs – keep each other safe.

I wasn't letting up on that promise, ever.

"CLEMENTINE!" Lilly yells my name as I disappear underneath where they're standing, rushing over to my best friend's side and doing my best to protect him.

And with just the luck that I'm having today, I then realize that I gave away my only weapon to Luke in order for him to get that stupid door unlocked. Funny how things turn out, eh?

_What do I do?! What do I do?! _I think drastically, as two walkers start their climb over the rubble towards us. Damn it! If only that cannon actually worked. Grabbing the first thing that I see (which is a small wooden board), I frantically beat one of them over the head with it, trying to at least bide us some time before…

"Ben!" I call out, seeing his scrawny form on one of the ledges, "Help us! Please!"

It appears as though he's about to toss his hatchet my way, but in good-ol' fashion Ben clumsiness he drops the stupid thing and it falls with a useless clang on the other side, far out of my reach.

One of the walkers is now within striking distance of us, and I'm lucky as hell that it didn't choose Duck to try and take a bite out of. Instead, I'm pinned under its weight as that pain in my leg rears its ugly head again, causing me to gasp and yelp occasionally. If I die today, then I want it to be trying to protect a good friend.

And then Kenny shows up.

Lilly, Luke and Bonnie are shooting at the walkers that they can see, but Duck's father has jumped down towards the two of us and is shooting the walkers that have gotten much too close for my liking.

As the smoke clears, and Kenny helps get some of the rubble off of Duck, that's when I start hearing the whimpering.

"No…" I breathe out, not believing what I'm seeing.

Turns out that one puncture into his stomach is actually three, with the metal bars protruding from the poor kid like out of some twisted horror movie. His breathing is very slight and rushed, while his eyes are bloodshot and wide.

"I'm… Just hold on, okay son? I'm… I'm gonna get you out of this, don't worry…"

"Urggh… it hurts… I'm scared, Dad! Am… Am I gonna die?"

"No, Duck. I'm getting you out – god damn it, somebody help me!"

Pathetically I trudge over to the two of them as the rest of the group slowly makes their way down. I'm not holding back the tears at this point – not when it's a friend like Duck. Lilly seems really shaken up too, and Luke's preventing Sarah from seeing the ghastly scene before us.

Duck was the only child friend I had left for all that time that we spent together, and just to see him like this… it's entirely unfair. My best friend's dying, and there's nothing I can do about it.

"AHHHH!" Duck screams as Kenny tries to lift him off of the fallen deck. I can't even imagine how painful that must be.

"Oh god, Duck… I'm so sorry, I know it hurts but… fuck, I can't…" Kenny stammers, his hands shaking as he clutches his son's hand tightly.

Surprisingly, the young boy looks over at me for a second. "Clementine," he wheezes, coughing up blood, "She… she tried to save me."

"I know she did," Kenny whimpers, rubbing his arm affectionately, "Clem's a good kid, Duck. One of the best."

Time is running out now, and we all know it deep down. I think even Kenny's slowly coming to terms with what's happening.

"I… I guess… I guess I'll get to see Mom after all," Duck whispers as he chuckles one last time… before his breathing stops altogether. His eyes grow unfocused and cloudy, and Kenny trembles in pure grief while the rest of us watch on in silence.

My best friend is dead… and now I'm starting to realize how Luke must have been feeling.

And ten minutes later is when Kenny shoots Ben in the leg.

_AN: God, that episode was incredibly sad! If you haven't played it yet, I definitely recommend checking it out ASAP. The kicked the tension between the group up hugely in this episode, and it appears as though your decisions have more consequences to them now than ever before._

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed this! And if you're really pissed that I killed off Duck, then I'm sorry for that! Just please don't come to my house – I don't feel like getting vegetables thrown at me today…_


	17. The new recruits

"Leave him… He's mine," Kenny snarls lowly, his gaze incredibly menacing as he storms his way over to the young man. Ben's on the ground writhing in pain; incredibly frightened that Kenny's going to do more than simply shoot and put him out of his misery.

Grunting and hissing as the blood soaks through his pant leg, Ben tries his best to squirm away from the bearded man, who's clearly hell-bent on making his death as painful as possible.

I have to do something to stop this… but Kenny will probably hate me for it.

"You fucking worthless, spineless piece of shit… MY SON'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" he roars, shooting a bullet into his other leg while the rest watch on in shock.

"Oh my god… Urghh….. Kenny… please don't… I'm sorry!" Ben begs as Kenny looms over top of him.

"You think your apology means jack-shit to me, fucker?! The only thing I want from you is to get buried in the motherfucking ground!"

"This ain't right man," Luke says, folding his arms across his chest, "It ain't even humane – you do this and there's no coming back."

"I don't care…" Kenny whispers, his right hand gripping his crowbar so hard that his knuckles turn white.

This has to stop – either shoot him in the head or leave him alone, but beating the kid's only going to drive Kenny further down his destructive path. The last thing we need is for him to turn into some blood-crazed maniac who shoots first and asks questions after they're dead, even though he's pretty close to being that person already.

Sneaking away from the scene, I go over to Duck's corpse and ask myself how it came to this…

"I… I was trying to help us all…" Ben coughs out, biting his tongue in an attempt to nullify some of the pain, "I know I fucked up, and I'm sorry. But… I didn't know that Duck would fall off! I'd never do it on purpose…"

"LIAR!" Kenny bellows, smacking his knee with the crowbar twice as Ben screams in complete agony. "YOU'VE FUCKED UP FOR THE LAST FUCKIN' TIME!"

Closing my old friend's eyes, I shudder as a few more fresh tears reach my cheeks and I squeeze his hand one last time.

The first blow to Ben's head knocks him out cold, and that's when Lilly finally steps in.

"Enough, Kenny! This isn't going to bring him back… I'm sorry."

"Heh, that's real funny coming from you," he replies sarcastically, stopping his assault only to talk to her. "Especially seeing's how you butchered my girlfriend not even two hours ago – and _now _you're sorry?! You guys think I don't know what y'all are thinking? _Oh, what's wrong with Kenny? Why is Kenny acting so badly? _Well, come back to me and complain when you've lost _your _son, and then maybe I'll start to feel fucking sympathy for you! Until then, this shitbird's gotta die."

"Goodbye… Duck," I whisper as I silently pull out my pistol, holding it at my side.

"Man, if you do this, then we're leavin' you behind. No questions asked," Luke warns, though Kenny doesn't seem to take his threat very seriously. He's not thinking straight at the moment, in case you haven't noticed.

"Leave me the hell alone!" he shouts, taking another swing at the boy's head.

I raise the gun up…

"Stop it, you're killing him!" Sarah whimpers, clutching onto Luke's shirt like a lifeline.

I turn the safety off…

"He doesn't deserve to live!" Kenny yells, all of his rage being unleashed on Ben.

And…

_BANG!_

Instantly dropping the crowbar to the ground, Kenny turns around slowly and stares at me. At first, it doesn't seem like he knows what to do; as if he's registering what I've just done in order to stop him from straight-up murdering Ben.

But a second later, I back away slowly as he menacingly storms over my way – I told you how pissed he'd be at me.

"What the fuck did you do, Clementine…"

"He would've come back… Duck was dead, Kenny."

"HOW FUCKIN' DARE YOU?!" he screams, his voice cracking as he cradles his boy in his arms, "You had no fucking right to do that, Clementine! He's MY son for Christ's sake… it… it should've been me…"

For the second time in my life, I am truly afraid of this man. He's broken beyond repair, prone to lash out at any one of us, and I'm pretty sure that I've destroyed what brittle of a relationship we may have had.

"I'm… so sorry, Kenny…"

"That's all I ever hear anymore! You might as well shoot me too, since you're obviously so fucking good at it! You'd probably be doing me a favour, kid!" Kenny growls, looking intensely at my small frame.

"Duck wouldn't have wanted to turn into one of those things!"

"YOU'RE JUST A KID! YOU DON'T GET TO MAKE THOSE KINDS OF DECISIONS!" he screams, breaking down as he shakes violently. "Just… just get the fuck away from me… and leave us alone…"

Turning on my heel, I purposely avoid eye contact with everyone as I walk past Ben's disfigured body and wrap my arms around myself; suddenly feeling the chilly air even more so than before. You want me to leave? Fine… It's not like you guys give a damn anyway.

"_Umm, Bonnie? Why don't you take Sarah and head out for a walk for a little bit? I think we've gotta have a chat," _I hear Luke say, with Bonnie murmuring an agreement. Great, here comes the pity parade.

Not bothering to acknowledge Sarah's chants to wait up for the two of them, I keep walking through some trees and over to that river that I saw earlier.

The area engulfs me in its beauty – it's hard to believe that even though the human world changed forever, nature still keeps going. Makes you think how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things, doesn't it?

…Look at me, preaching about life when I'm eleven years old. If things were different, I'd probably be on a two week winter break from school, sitting at the dinner table with my parents and eating some delicious meal that I'll never get to have ever again. Speaking of my parents, this place looks like one of the paintings that my mom used to hang up in the hallway. She was always into that kind of stuff – it's actually one of the reasons that I liked to draw so much. I wanted to do things just like my mom…

Climbing over to a small hill that hung over the edge of the river, I sit down and sigh as I watch the waves roll over the rocks. I wonder if the river's going to freeze?

"You know," Bonnie says, startling me a little bit as I didn't see her or Sarah approach, "my Pa always used to take me up to places like this. Every summer we'd go off to some new campsite or lake to go fishing and canoeing, things like that."

"Yeah, me too," Sarah agrees while nodding, "except my parents usually wanted to stay in a cabin or something. They didn't like the idea of being stuck out in a tent and sleeping on the ground. Too many mosquitoes, I think."

"Didn't you use insect repellent?"

"Most of the time, yeah," Sarah explains, popping a squat beside me as Bonnie sits to the right of me, "But one time my dad sprayed on my mom's perfume by accident, and when he woke up the next morning his entire body was covered in bites. It looked like he was covered in zits!"

Even I smirk a little at that, trying to imagine how funny that must've looked. Sarah may be a goofball at times, but she is a loveable goofball. Bonnie seems pretty sweet too, but I still don't know her very well. As long as she doesn't take off like Mike and Jane, then I'm sure we'll become fast friends.

But right now, I've got a heavy heart and mind – not a winning combination for trying to engage in small talk.

We fall into silence as we listen to the flow of water, slowly moving as it goes wherever it wants. I wish our lives could be that peaceful, without having to worry about surviving every day.

"I think Kenny hates me," I admit quietly, closing my eyes as the wind brushes across my face. "And I don't think Luke or Lilly like me that much either."

"Come on, Clementine. You know that ain't true – there's just a lot of stuff going on, that's all," Bonnie tries to reassure, but I don't think she understands. Neither of them do, really, but I appreciate the effort for trying nonetheless.

"I should've just waited… waited for Kenny to do it. He was right' it's his son and I just took something away from them that they'll never get back. It's like he didn't even get to say goodbye."

"But Clem," Sarah interjects, "He would've hurt Ben even more if you didn't do that."

"I don't think Ben's alive, Sarah. Kenny hit him pretty hard…"

That cuts through them like a hot knife through butter. Both of them clearly saw what torment he'd gone through, and even they can't deny the damage that was done. Even if Ben somehow miraculously wakes up, how is he supposed to move?

"Turn around slowly, and put your hands where I can see 'em."

Knowing that somebody has gotten the jump on us, we reluctantly oblige, turning around in sync and doing as we're instructed. I haven't seen him yet, but he's obviously got a gun on us. I mean, how stupid would you have to be to…

Wow, really?

It's just some hat-wearing, bearded man with piercings holding a knife and looking really worn-down. It doesn't even look like he's got backup with him, so Bonnie and I instantly draw our guns on him and turn the tables.

This is really pathetic.

"_Yo, Eddie! Did you find something yet, bro?"_

Why do I know that voice, though?

"Shit… I'm in trouble, man! Get over here!"

"Don't move," Bonnie orders, raising her weapon dangerously near the man's forehead. You can practically see the sweat congregating in his winter hat, showing how nervous he really is.

His buddy then comes… and instantly I tell Bonnie to lower her rifle.

"Arvo?" I exclaim, shocked that he was a part of this whole thing. "What are you doing here? And why are you trying to do this to us?"

"Oh, Jesus, it's you! You're… umm, fuck what was your name again? Umm… Clementine! That's right, your name's Clementine!" he then comes over to his friend's aid, "Put the fucking knife down, Eddie! What are you gonna do? Stab them for supplies? They're friendly."

"Yeah, umm… right," Eddie responds, putting the knife away in his pocket as he averts our glares sheepishly, "Sorry, and all that shit."

"Look, I know this isn't doing us any favours, but we're not bad people, I swear!" For added effect, Arvo places his fist across his heart. "We just got kicked out of our old group – no supplies or anything, and he didn't know it was you, Clementine!"

"Why'd you get kicked out?" I ask, curious since Arvo told me just yesterday that their group did better on their own. From what I could see at that trailer park, it seemed like things ran pretty smoothly.

Eddie shifts on his feet uncomfortably, sighing as he adjusts his hat.

"Nate's what happened, that son of a bitch. Arvo and I told him off after he clubbed a kid to death last night, so he threw us out on our own. Left my bong and everything…"

"Anyways…" Arvo interrupts, with me not fully understanding what he meant by a bong. What is it, like a type of drum set or something? "It won't happen again, we promise. So, why are you out here by yourselves? Isn't your older friend with you?"

"It's a long story," I reply, not sure where I'd even start telling him. Thankfully he seems to accept the response, but suddenly his face grows hopeful.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have any supplies, would you? Like food or water I mean? We haven't eaten since yesterday."

"This ain't some soup kitchen we're running over here, fellas," Bonnie reminds them, placing her hands on her hips.

"Of course, my friend, of course," Arvo responds, holding his hands out peacefully, "Would you be willing to offer something in exchange? Are you guys low on anything?"

"Do you have any medicine? Like antibiotics or something like that?" Sarah asks, obviously hoping that we can somehow save Ben. Plus, her dad probably taught her some things about the medical field at some point, so she must have at least _some _knowledge about it. "Our friend's in a lot of pain right now… like, he's not waking up or anything like that."

I forgot how often teenagers said the word "like".

Arvo cautiously looks towards Eddie, who's shrugging his shoulders as if he's not sure what to do. I get the feeling that between the two of them, Arvo is the one who makes most of their decisions. Eddie seems pretty laid back, despite having threatened us earlier.

"Well," he begins, setting down his backpack and unzipping, "yes, but this is stuff that we need out here. You understand, don't you?"

I kid you not, it looks like he brought the entire doctor's office with them. His bag is filled with syringes, cough medicine, aspirin, pain killers… everything but the doctors themselves. Surely they could afford to give _something _away, right?

Or…

"Do you guys have anywhere to go?" I ask, ignoring Bonnie's disapproving glance, "I mean, we could use all the help we could get."

"I don't – "

"GUYS!" Luke suddenly appears, waving his hands in the air to attract our attention. Whatever's happening must be pretty urgent. "Fuck, we gotta get out of here! More of them lurkers showed up, and – what're they doing here?"

"This is Eddie, and you've already met Arvo," I introduce, the two of them still debating on whether or not to travel with us. "They got kicked out of their group, and we need their help. They've got medicine we could use on Ben."

"That's great, Clem, really. But… he still hasn't woken up yet. Lilly's got him in the back of the truck, but frankly I wouldn't know what the hell to do for his bullet wounds. There ain't no surgeons around."

"We have to try," I say purposefully, "If there's a chance of saving him, then we need to take it."

"Do your, uh, friends still want to come with us?" Luke asks, more so to Arvo and Eddie than to me. After about five seconds of not saying anything, Arvo sighs.

"We talked it over, Eddie and me," he begins, putting the bag back on his shoulders, "and yeah, we'd like to come. But if things don't work out – if there are any fights or we see something we don't like – then we're moving on."

"Sounds fair to me," Luke replies, "Now come on, y'all. We've gotta get moving."

"Where are we even going, Luke?" Bonnie asks, catching up to him while I stick with Sarah.

He takes a look back at me for a brief second before talking quietly to Bonnie. I already know what he's doing – Luke's plan is to get to the countryside, grow old and die in some beaten-up barn… okay, maybe that's my version. But still, you get the idea.

"Sarah," I begin, grabbing her hand and stopping her for just a minute. "What do you want to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Pausing, I have to think about what I'm about to say next, because if she decides to take off with Luke, then this is the last time I'll ever see her. "Look Sarah, I think the group might be splitting up, and you need to choose who you want to go with. Did you want to go with Luke and Bonnie?"

"Well, what about you?" she asks, eerily similar to that day at the motor-inn two years ago. God, why is everything so similar? Except in this situation, I'm Lee and Sarah's me… if that makes any sense at all.

"I need to go to Wellington, which is up north. _Way _up north," I emphasize, rubbing my arm. "I'd totally understand if you went with Luke and Bonnie though. They're good people, and you know them. Plus… I don't think you'd want to be around Kenny."

"But, we're friends, right?"

Ughh…. Why is she guilt tripping me? WHY?! I know she's still a naïve teenager and obviously doesn't mean it, but I knew making that promise back at the cabin could lead to heartbreak like this.

"Yeah," I answer honestly, "Of course we are. Friends no matter what."

"Then…" she pauses, obviously not okay with the idea of people going their separate ways. "I.. umm…"

"_Get inside the truck! Hurry!"_

Not even realizing that we were still walking, I hear Lilly urgently calling us from the driver's seat; not wanting to honk the horn since it would attract to much unwanted attention. Thank god Lilly left Carver's old vehicle parked close to the museum – otherwise we'd be in real trouble.

"Luke!" I call, one last ditch effort for him to change his mind. "Just come with us, please! Sarah needs you! _I _need you!"

Shaking his head in exasperation, Luke relents and huffs a sigh of annoyance before motioning for everyone to head in back.

"For the record, Clem," he says, lifting Sarah up as the rest of them climb inside, "I've seen you handle yourself better than three men put together. But you owe me big time!"

"Thank you," I smile – the first real smile that I've had in a long time. He shuts the door behind me and climbs into the passenger seat with Lilly, while I sit right next to Sarah as she leans her head on my shoulder.

Maybe things won't turn out so badly after all – next stop Wellington.

_AN: I hope you don't mind me keeping Sarah around, but frankly I think the way they did it in this episode was flat out wrong… same goes for Nick. And god-damn it Kenny! Why did you have to be like that?! Blaming Sarita's death on Clementine… I was ticked through a lot of this episode, but whatever! That's what fanfiction is for, right? It lets you create and adjust things the way you want it to go. Anyway, enough of my pessimism. _

_Yes, I know now that Arvo's Russian… but I made the other chapter before I played episode four, so my Arvo won't have as much trouble speaking English. His roots will still be the same though._

_Either way, hope you enjoyed!_


	18. We tried

"_Bennnn! The whole point of the game is for you to hide! I can see you from here, and I haven't even started counting yet!" I complain, giggling as Lee looks over at us and shakes his head. _

"_Yeah, well… Duck took my hiding spot, and this is the only other place I could find."_

_The boy's idea of "hiding" was standing behind one of the support beams that held the upper floor of the motor-inn in place. Man, teenagers are silly!_

"_Go find someplace else then! I'm counting to twenty…" I call, counting up the numbers in rapid succession to try and get him to move faster. I think he must have bumped into Larry, because I can hear him yelling something like "Stupid kid! Quit dicking around and do some f*ing work!" That was a swear! Why is Larry always so angry all the time?_

"_Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty!" I shout, turning around and running like a crazy person to try and find my friends. "Ready or not, here I come!"_

_Hmmm… where could they be? It doesn't look like they're over by my chalk drawings, and we already agreed not to go into any of the rooms, since that's private. _

_Ten minutes pass, and still there's no sign of them anywhere! _

"_Having fun over here, Clem?" _

"_Oh! Hey, Lee!" I say happily, jogging over to him as he walks by. "Yeah, but I'm not so good at this. I can't find Ben or Duck anywhere!"_

"_Hmm…" he muses, scratching his beard in contemplation just like my dad used to. It's kind of funny actually. "Well, how about we look together? It'll be like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson – they're detectives."_

"_Ohh, okay," I reply, not exactly sure who he was talking about at first. "Can I be Sherley, then?"_

"_Sherlock, kiddo," Lee corrects, patting my hat with his finger, "and you already fit the part perfectly."_

_Smiling shyly, I take his big hand in mine as we scrounge around the place, looking behind dumpsters, poles, overturned cars, everything! _

"_See?" I complain, folding my arms across my chest, "It's like they're invisible or something!"_

"_Do you want a hint?" Lee asks; a small smirk playing upon his lips as he smugly looks down at me._

"_Okay," I sigh, "but just a tiny one! I don't want them to think I cheated!"_

"_How's about we go look over by Lilly?" he mentions, already walking towards her as she sits in the lawn chair on top of the RV._

_Uh oh… _

"_Umm, Lee?" I ask meekly, with him bending his knees so that we can see each other eye to eye. "Lilly kind of… umm…"_

"_Scares you?" he places a hand on my shoulder as I nod. "You and me both sometimes, Clem. But that's only when things get dangerous around here, do you understand? Come on, she's really nothing to be afraid of once you get to know her."_

_Gradually, we make our way over to her and Lee tells me to head up the ladder. Once I get to the top, I timidly say hi to Lilly, who just waves back to me. She must be concentrating on looking for walkers or something like that. I hope I never have to fight one of those things… but I'm starting to wonder what I'd do if I had to?_

_No! Lee will take care of me, just like he always does. We're a team of, umm, detectives! Yeah!_

"_Oh, there you are!" I call out, tagging Duck on the arm. _

"_Man, it feels like I've been sitting here for an hour," Duck complains, stretching his back as he stands up._

"_It certainly has felt that way…" Lilly mumbles, and I put a hand over my mouth to prevent me from laughing. Now to find Ben…_

…..

And now I take a look at where we are, who I'm with and the people I've lost. Everyone at that motor-inn is dead except for me, Kenny, Lilly and Ben… if he actually makes it through this. He's sprawled out on the floor, passed out and rolling about like a ragdoll whenever we go over a bump in the road. Which happens quite a lot actually.

Sometimes I miss those carefree days at the motor-inn; sitting around, protected by our makeshift fences, having people to play with and having lots of paper to draw on. I used to draw everything that came to my head, be it dragons, unicorns, flowers, myself and everybody there… But there were also some things about that place that I didn't like.

The constant fighting, for one – that was something I could've definitely done without. Guns sort of scared me back then, especially if Kenny was holding onto one. Seeing Lee covered in walker blood a couple of times had me worried sick, since I didn't really have anyone besides Carley at the time who I knew could step up and take the reins if anything were to happen to him. I hadn't even considered the possibility that it'd be Lilly whom I would rely heavily on for the next two years.

Looking around me now, though, those childish fears seem totally irrelevant. I've learned how to shoot, killed dozens of walkers, had to put friends down in order to save them from turning, and the fighting's worse now than it ever was before.

There's no time left for childish fantasies or playing games – I've had to grow up well before my time.

"Yo, Arvo," Eddie says, bringing me back to planet earth, "You went to med school, didn't you? You'd know how to do this shit, right?"

"I only went for one year, and that was back in Moscow. I could try, but your friend's going to be in a lot of pain," Arvo directs, looking more so at me than Eddie.

"Need any help?" I whisper, placing Sarah down gently as she falls asleep.

Instructing me as best he can, Arvo has me apply pressure on one of his legs as he attempts to take some of the bullet pieces out.

"Shouldn't we give him them painkillers, first?" Bonnie asks as Arvo widens his eyes.

Quickly realizing that she is right, I resist the urge to facepalm as he places some sort of liquid in a syringe and injects it into Ben's arm. Honestly, I don't think the guy knows what he's doing.

"Man, this is some sick shit," Eddie comments as he ruffles around inside the bag to look for some bandages. "It's like that fucking Operation game I used to play as a kid… makes me wish I still had my light. Anyone got one?"

"Who let the stoner on board?" Kenny comments dryly, the first words I've heard him say in the hour that we've been on this truck.

"Kenny, don't be like that," Bonnie warns, an accusing glare headed in his direction. "They were nice enough to help us, and don't forget that this was _your _fault in the first place!"

Not saying anything more, Kenny slowly shakes his head and continues to stare at the wall. Well, at least he's calmed down a little bit.

"I'm sorry that I'm shaking so much," Arvo apologises as he pulls out a gooey piece of lead from Ben's leg. "I've got Parkinson's Disease, and I can't really help it, you know?"

So _that's_ why they've got so much medicine in there.

"You're doing great – we really appreciate it," Bonnie compliments, wrapping a gauze on Ben's head in order to cover some of the wounds up there.

"Do you think he'll make it?" I ask, worry etched in my voice as I look at our handiwork at the moment. We've done as well as we can so far, but we've still got a ways to go.

Shrugging his shoulders Arvo continues to scrounge around for broken shards of bullet while also trying to avoid severing anything important, such as an artery.

"Hard to say," Arvo admits – not exactly what you want a temporary surgeon to say. "I don't even know if I'm going to get all the pieces out, and until he wakes up we'll have no idea. Have your gun ready just in case."

"What happened to the guy, anyway?" Eddie asks, widening his eyes as we all turn our heads towards Kenny. "Jesus… that's a little fucked up, bro. What'd he ever do to you?"

Nobody says a word as Arvo continues to work, so Eddie shakes his head in disbelief and watches his friend work. "Make sure to not use too much, dude. That stash is supposed to last us for a while. Probably won't find another one like it."

After about an hour and a half (and one instance where Ben woke up screaming in pain before collapsing again – I had my gun out on instinct), Arvo finally calls it a night, saying that there's nothing more that can be done for him. The only thing we can do now is wait it out and see what happens.

Bonnie's fallen asleep, and Kenny's obviously keeping to himself in the corner, so it just leaves Arvo, Eddie and I as the ones who are still awake. Might as well get to know them a bit better, right?

"Where are you guys from?" I ask, finding my position near Sarah once again. Arvo's the first to respond.

"I am originally from Moscow," he says, letting his bad leg slide down to the floor carefully. Man, how has this guy managed to survive so long? "I stayed there until I was… oh gosh, I must've been… four? Or was it five? I can't remember… anyway, my family and I moved here to North Carolina, and I've lived here ever since. I went to Moscow for a year to fulfill my father's dream of me being a doctor, but… I wasn't cut out for it, I'm afraid."

"You don't sound very Russian to me," I comment, noting that the lack of an accent is probably due to him growing up over here. "Do you speak any of it?"

"I did in the house, but not very often anywhere else," he admits before turning to me. "So, where are you from? I don't know you very well, Clementine."

"I'm from Georgia."

"No way," Eddie smirks, coming over and fist-pumping me for some reason. "We're a couple of homeboys, you and me. I'm from Atlanta."

Smirking slightly, I almost immediately decide that these two are alright. Usually with new people I'm either indifferent or extremely cautious towards them, but these too come off as pretty down to earth.

"…so yeah, Nate wanted to kill me at one point, the fucking dickhead. But my buddy and I got separated, so I kind of convinced Nate to spare my life. We headed off and that was that…"

"Really? You never told me that! We probably would've ended up leaving earlier…"

I'm not really following what they're saying, because my attention is more focused on the bearded man from Florida. He hasn't moved from that spot since we left, and even though it's a long shot, I figure that I might as well go and talk to him now that he's simmered down a little bit.

Walking over, Kenny still hasn't moved an inch. Hopefully this'll go over smoothly.

"Hi, Kenny…" I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

Not expecting nor receiving a response from him, I sigh and plop myself down beside him; my knees hugging my chest as I try to think of what to say.

But then he does the one thing that I never would've expected to hear from him.

"Do you think Duck's alright up there?" he breathes, rubbing his eye to remove some of the fatigue. "I mean, do you think he'll ever be at peace?"

"Yeah… I'm sure he is," I respond a bit hesitantly, knowing that Duck was a taboo subject that I really didn't want to remind him of.

Nodding his head silently, he places one hand on my knee and squeezes slightly.

"You're a good kid, Clementine," he says, "and… I'm sorry about all that nonsense I was spewing out earlier. Guess I just panicked, is all."

"I should've let you do it though… it wasn't right," I respond honestly.

"Well… to be honest, I don't know if I could've done it myself. At least it was someone close to him. So, thank you," he then turns towards his victim on the floor. "Do you know if he's gonna live or not?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I hear Kenny sigh as he rubs his eye again. He couldn't possibly regret it now, could he? I mean, sure it was totally a rash call and he shouldn't have done it, but… what if it was your kid that just died so horribly? Wouldn't you have wanted to do something to the person responsible?

"What a mess," he states, shifting a little bit in order to move closer to me. "I don't expect you to forgive me, Clem. Not for this… but, I just want you to know… I'm glad you're here with me. You seem to be the only one left who even cares anymore."

Nick said the exact same things to me back near the ski lodge, but this time… Kenny might be right. Lilly clearly doesn't want him around, and the rest of these guys have only seen the bad side of the man. They never saw the Kenny who helped patch me up in Macon after I got a cut, or the Kenny who went through hell at the dairy to get to his family. Inside his tough guy exterior there was a sense of loyalty somewhere. He's like a bear looking after its cubs – threaten the cubs and he'll tear you to pieces.

Ben's learned that the hard way.

"What do you know about Wellington?" I ask, realizing that I know very little about the place that we're going to.

"Well," he sighs, adjusting his hat so that it wasn't covering his bloody bandage, "I know it's some big camp up near Michigan. Fresh water, lots of land, cold ass winters – but other than that I don't know. I could probably catch us some fish for food if we have to. Maybe I'll even show you how to catch 'em yourself."

"I'd like that," I agree, smiling slightly. It goes away almost immediately after, however, as I notice Kenny wincing as his hand grazes past his bandage. "It hurts a lot, doesn't it?"

"More than you'd believe."

"Let me help you," I state, not accepting any argument as I take a couple of bandages from Arvo's bag. "Here, just take that one off and… oh my god…"

Ben has now officially woken up, and he's in so much pain that it makes me cringe just by looking at him. We fixed him up as best we could, but there could be trauma going on inside of him that we're powerless to help him with.

Sweating buckets and shaking violently in an effort to quell the pain, Ben looks at me pleadingly. "Please," he begs, scaring me as I've never seen him this way before, "Just… end this nightmare for me… I can't even… feel my legs anymore…"

"Stop the truck," I say solemnly.

"Wait, what?! Are you serious?!" Bonnie asks, having woken up at the sound of Ben's grunts. Sarah seems to have groggily awoken too. "We're just gonna kill him? Leave him out on the side of the road to die?"

"Would you rather he just suffer like this? The guy's pretty much paralyzed – "

"You son of a bitch…" Bonnie growls, almost snarling as Kenny utters those words. "We wouldn't even be going through this if you hadn't…"

"Don't… blame Kenny…" Ben wheezes out, surprising everyone at once. "I know I've… fucked up… I… I would've been… out on my own anyway…"

Tapping as hard as he can on the side of the truck, Kenny yells out for Lilly to stop, and thankfully we feel the truck slow down and diverge off to the side of the road. We sit quietly as we hear two sets of footsteps come around back before Luke opens the door.

"What are you guys doing? We were making good time," Lilly comments, her signature glare back as she folds her arms.

"Help me lift him," Kenny instructs to Luke, who's standing there looking like we've all lost our minds. "It's his choice, kid. Now either help me move him or get the hell out of the way."

"Jesus, Kenny! What the fuck's wrong with you?! It's bad enough that you go off barking orders at everyone, but now you're just going to go kill Ben because you were too stupid to – "

"STOP IT!" I shout, startling everyone (including myself) again with my authoritative voice. Maybe I am just a kid on the outside, but I sometimes I feel like I've got more common sense than most of the grown-ups. "Ben's in a lot of pain… the least we can do is give him what he wants…"

"You're absolutely sure about this?" Lilly asks, turning her attention towards Ben as he gives a slow nod. "…alright. Bring him over here. We can go over into the woods so Sarah doesn't have to see. It should just be Kenny, Clem and I going. The rest of you stay and keep an eye out for trouble."

As a team, Kenny and Lilly carry Ben off to the side of the road and through the trees, while I follow along slowly behind them. Turning around one last time, I see the rest of them watch on with a mix of confusion, disbelief, sadness and anger. They just don't understand.

The woods are slowly starting to get covered by a thin layer of snow; making everything seem sparkly as the sun reflects off of it. It looks so perfect, and a part of me wishes to go jump in and make a snow angel. We didn't really get much snow down in Georgia.

"..this… ughh… this is good, right here…" Ben pants as they gently set him down near a tree. The guy looks incredibly weak and pale; his face matching the surroundings perfectly. All three of us can tell that he wants this to be over as quickly as possible.

"Ben…" I whimper, planting a kiss on his cheek one last time and hugging him tightly before joining the other two standing a few feet away from him. "I'll miss you…"

"Me…too, Clementine…" he manages to smile – the last smile he'll ever get to show. God damn it, now I'm crying AGAIN! This has just not been my week, has it?

Lilly simply nods at the boy, having forgiven him for the whole motor-inn incident years ago. In hindsight, it luckily didn't cost anybody their lives (though I doubt very much that I'll ever find out exactly what happened to Katjaa), and he was pleasant to be around. Maybe it'll be like Kenny said back in the truck – he and Duck will finally be at peace.

"I'm sorry… guys… for everything…"

"Close your eyes, kid," Kenny states emotionlessly, "It'll be over before you know it."

Doing as instructed, he gives a final nod towards me before painfully resting his head back against the tree and shutting his eyes forever. The gun goes off, Ben's head instinctually reels back, the blood runs down his forehead, and it's done.

Ben certainly wasn't a bad guy by any means, and he'll be sorely missed. Scratch that off as another of my friends killed by this horrible, unforgiving world we live in.

After a few moments of silence for our fallen friend, Kenny then turns to Lilly with a sunken face.

"How much farther to Wellington, do ya think?"

"…we've got about a quarter tank of gas left, so I'd say it'll be about a two day walk after that."

"Good," he comments quietly, "that truck's caused nothin' but trouble anyway."

If he is referring to Ben or the whole Carver kidnapping ordeal, I don't know or care. He walks away without another word, while Lilly waits with me for a few more minutes before we, too, depart.

Forgotten, but never forsaken.


	19. Danger at every turn

"Sarah… I think I need to show you how to use this thing."

I can tell that she's scared, that much is for certain as she glances down at the gun I'm holding out for her in my hands. We aren't going to get a lot of chances for this, and if it means potentially saving her life then I have to teach her how to shoot. Plus, I realized after her close encounter back at the museum that I should've taught her this stuff a long time ago. Can't take any chances these days, especially with the luck we've been having recently.

"Come on, there's a few old cars we can use for target practice."

"But…" Sarah stammers, wrapping her arms around herself for comfort, "My… my dad never let me go near guns. He always said they were too dangerous."

"That's only if you don't use it properly," I inform, taking her hand and walking over to a nice little set-up. We would be able to see any walkers coming for a long time before they actually made it close, thanks to our big lines of sight. Plus, the cars also formed a sort of barricade that we could use to our advantage. "Always remember, it's not a toy."

"Okay… okay…" Sarah breathes out, taking it in her hands. I point her arms downward in order to prevent her from blowing my face off. "What should I shoot first?"

"Cars," I remind her as we walk over to a suitable distance. Once I feel that we're far away enough, I begin directing her on what to do. "Always know where your finger is on the trigger – you don't want to accidentally shoot it off. And… um, look down that notch thing on the end of the gun, don't lock your elbows and… Hmm, what else did Lee say? …Oh right! Make sure you steady yourself before firing."

"Okay…" she mumbles before firing a bullet that goes sailing over the cars, completely missing the target. "Oh no! I'm sorry, Clem! I didn't mean to, honest!"

Laughing quietly, I place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's alright Sarah. Trust me, it's just your first day. You'll get used to the kick," I then set her up again gently, "Ready to try again?"

And so it goes for about fifteen minutes or so, with Sarah getting slightly better after a little while. She even managed to hit the car dead center on one of her shots – you should've seen how proud she was! Sarah's going to be shooting like a pro in no time.

"Shouldn't we save the ammo?" Sarah asks as she hands the weapon back to me.

"Yeah," I agree, having used up a good chunk of the bullets that Lilly had found in the glove box of one of the vehicles. "You did really good, Sarah! I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Clem. I feel a little bit safer now."

"That's the idea," I agree, noticing that a couple of walkers must have heard the noise and came stumbling out onto the road. "Uh oh, looks like we've got company."

Turning around, I can already tell that Sarah's starting to freak out. Everyone's afraid of the walkers, but the young teen seems to be even more frightened. Perhaps it's due to them killing her dad, but I can't ever be sure.

"Oh no… what do we do? Should we get help?" she asks, panic swimming in her eyes.

I've got an idea though.

"Here," I state, trying to give her the gun back. "What better way to learn than the real thing?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!"

"They'll be here any minute Sarah… better start aiming."

"CLEMENTINE!" she screeches, holding her head in panic. Okay, maybe I'm pushing her a bit hard, but in order for her to recognize the danger she needs to experience doing this for herself. Still though, it'd be kind of cruel for me to not do anything.

"We'll do it together," I encourage, stepping behind her and wrapping my arms around hers as I place the gun in her hands. "Just like we practiced. You ready?"

"No!"

"Nice and easy…" I soothe, leading her along as the first walker stumbles towards us. "And… shoot!"

"I… I can't!"

"Sarah, it has to be now!" I yell, not intending to startle her but doing so anyways. Together, we lift the gun at the walker's head, and I have to force her fingers to squeeze the trigger as our first kill goes down for the count. "Alright, good – now the other one! Our lives are on the line, here! We need to make it count, okay?"

"I can't breathe… Oh god, Clem, I can't breathe!" she wheezes, inhaling and exhaling at a fast rate. I rub her back in a comforting manner to try and relieve some of the stress, but I stop after realizing that it won't do her any good if I help her like this. The second walker is still far away enough for my plan to work, but this might be the dumbest idea I've had in a very long time. And I've had some pretty dumb ideas before, too.

Quickly I step over to the car we used for target practice and stand right in front of it, fear gripping my insides but also reassured that this would be enough of an incentive for her to shoot the walker. "Make it count, okay? It's going to be just like this!"

"Are you crazy?! Get back over here!"

"You have to shoot it, Sarah!"

"Ugh… Fine!"

From my position, I can see that she's trying hard to concentrate on the walker that's inching its way closer to me, but she's taking a little bit longer than I would like. Firing off the first round, she gasps as it goes straight into its stomach and not affecting it at all.

"Umm… Sarah?"

"I'll get it!"

"Now would be good…" I chime, backing away as the beast comes closer; its jaws snapping and its bony arms reaching out mindlessly. It comes within inches of reaching me, when it happens – Sarah fires off another bullet that goes straight through its brain.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I walk back over to the fifteen year old, who doesn't look happy at all. I don't blame her really, but it was the only way that I could get the point across. People won't always be around to help or hold your hand.

"See?" I remark, taking the pistol back from her, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You could've died!" she protests as Luke approaches the two of us.

"That's the point, though. You saw that I was in trouble, and you took care of it anyway. Those kinds of things happen all the time."

"That doesn't mean you need to put yourself in danger for no reason though!"

"Umm, did I miss something here?" Luke asks awkwardly, probably thinking that he caught us in the middle of a fight or something.

"Nope, just Sarah's awesome shooting skills," I reply casually, brushing off the fact that I just put myself at risk. But I needed to know how Sarah could perform under pressure. "She's getting good around a gun."

"Huh, well keep it up there, kiddo. Sounds like your instructor's teaching you well," he comments, not getting a response from Sarah as she looks at the ground intently.

Deep down, I know that she'd be totally right under normal circumstances. You never know when things could go wrong, and there's always the possibility of danger. But as far as we can tell ever since we abandoned the truck over a day ago, the walkers have indeed slowed down due to the cold. We actually chuckled a little bit in amazement, thinking that this could be just the stroke of luck we need in order to make it to Wellington.

But there's always a bad side.

The cold may slow them down, but we're freezing our asses off out here. The jacket I'm wearing isn't quite as warm as I'd thought it would be, and a baseball cap with short hair means that my ears have turned into popsicles. I actually asked Sarah once on the way here if she'd warm them up for me.

Our food situation is taking on a drastic downward spiral. We only have a few cans left, and they have to be distributed evenly among everyone. I'm surprised that Arvo and Eddie even stuck around at all, though they too seemed to think that Wellington would be their best bet for a safe haven. Sometimes I wonder if it's too good to be true, but we need to keep hope alive.

Then again, what are we even going to do once we get there? Knock on the door and ask if we can stay?

"Come on, we'd better catch up. Lilly's saying our break's over… and I don't want to wait too long and get stuck in a storm."

"Is everyone alright?" I ask, shivering as a chilly breeze rolls through, "I'm freezing out here."

"Your pal Arvo ain't looking so hot right now, and Kenny… well, you know," Luke trails off, watching as Sarah slowly walks towards the rest of our group. "…Clem, what did you do?"

Sighing, I put my hands in my coat pockets and kick some of the snow out of my way. "I think I might've pushed her too hard," I admit softly, my breath visible in the air. "I'm just so used to being around this kind of stuff that I forgot who I was dealing with."

Nodding, Luke beckons for me to follow him as we trail behind the rest of the group, who's already continued walking.

"I found that too, when Carlos and her first showed up at the cabin," he remarks, holding out his machine gun and surveying their surroundings. Luke always seems to be on the lookout for danger of any kind. "He was always making sure that she never went twenty feet from the place – it was like he wanted to have Sarah glued to the wall."

"Really?" I ask, though not terribly surprised at this revelation.

"Oh yeah, for sure. He'd never mention lurkers or guns or anything like that when she was around. In fact, I think he kind of lied to her about what was going on out here."

"Why? What did he say?"

"He said that people just had a really bad case of the flu, and that she needed to stay inside otherwise she'd get into contact with it. That was… oh man, about two and a half years ago now."

"No wonder she got so scared…" I comment, looking at the back of the girl's head. Being told that the world wasn't as bad as it really was, not being allowed to interact with other people her own age – it must've been tough. "Do you think I screwed up somehow?"

"Nah, this ain't your problem, Clem. It just takes time with her, you know?" Luke remarks, tripping over a loose branch that's buried underneath the snow. "Hell, it'd be the same as us waking up the next morning and finding out your neighbours started eating each other. Well, that's what I found out anyway… Was it really that shitty in Georgia, Clem?"

"Do you really want to know what happened?"

"Hey, it's not like we've got anything else to do to pass the time, right?"

"I was hiding in my treehouse when all of this started… my babysitter got bitten and died upstairs in my house, so I hid until Lee came to the door. We headed out to some old man's farm where we met Kenny, Duck and his mom…"

I continue my story right up until the part about the whole group splitting up thing. How do I say this without Luke wanting to ditch Kenny on the road?

"We…" I begin, rubbing my arms for warmth. I swear, if we don't get there soon then I'm not sure how we're going to last. "…Lee and Kenny, well, they didn't agree on things. About a week after we got out of the dairy, the two of them came back from a supply run, and they told us we needed to split up. I was going to go with Lee, Lilly, Ben and another girl, Carley, but… some bandits busted through the fence and started shooting at us. We all got separated from each other – Kenny took his family in the RV – "

"What?!" he asks, surprised that he would leave us behind like that.

"Just let me finish, please," I say calmly, brushing some bangs out of my face. When we do end up getting to this place, the first thing I need to do is cut some of this hair. It's getting too long again. "Anyway, Lee and I hid out in one of the motel rooms, and we couldn't find anyone else. We stuck it out for a while, went to Savannah to find my parents… you know the rest…"

Feeling a slight pat on my shoulder, I look up to see Luke smiling sadly towards me.

"He sounded like a real, stand up guy."

Nodding slightly, I keep walking until I bump into Sarah, who's stopped moving along with everyone else.

"Sarah, what's – "

"FUUUUCCCCKKKK!" Lilly roars, her voice echoing off the snowbanks and through what appears to be a massive service tunnel. It's dark, spooky-looking and filled with overturned cars. The tunnel seems passable enough, but there's no way of telling what's lurking inside.

"Would you keep your damn voice down, Lilly?" Bonnie hisses, "You're supposed to be our guide out here, not freaking out when things get screwy!"

"You want to lead us through this deathtrap then?" Lilly glares, silencing the red-headed woman. "Didn't think so… Damn it! Wellington's supposed to be not too far on the other side, either!"

"Is there any way to go around?" Arvo asks weakly, coughing as he wipes some sweat off of his brow.

"Not unless we can all grow an extra five feet," Lilly comments sarcastically, "It's too high to reach up top, plus the fall would just be complete suicide. We can only go through here."

Huffing, Kenny studies the tunnel for a moment while the rest of us try to figure out what we should do. Eddie's trying his best to avoid the gaze of Lilly, as she still hasn't forgiven him for that day in the forest with Duck, so I go over to him and Arvo.

"Are you alright?" I ask, noticing that Arvo's skin looks a bit paler than usual.

"_Sigh… _Nothing that a bowl of hot soup wouldn't fix, but obviously we don't have one of those," he comments, sneezing into his sleeve and looking disgusted. "Ugh… Of all the things to run out of, it just had to be cold medicine…"

"Shit dog, think you've got the flu or somethin'? 'Cause I ain't carrying your ass! You're a good twenty pounds heavier than me!" Eddie remarks, trying to lighten up the mood a little bit. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't seem to work.

The real trouble of our situation is that nobody has any sort of flashlight. Bonnie's got a lighter that I'm almost sure is out of fuel, and there's no way we can just create our own light. There might be some wood around somewhere that we can use for a fire, but that'll attract the walkers too much. We can't take that risk.

"You know, this never would've happened if we had just turned back like I told you to!" I hear Luke argue, raising his hands in exasperation. "We could've been out in the countryside, found a place to lay up and secure it. Instead, we're walking towards danger searching for some pipe dream that probably is too good to be true! We should just go back the way we came, and start again."

"We've already come this far, and you just want to turn around and go home?!" Lilly asks, shaking her head in frustration. "This is the best shot we've ever had, and there's no going back now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who the fuck do you even think you are right now?! Who the hell put you in charge?"

"I didn't see any of you stepping up to help!"

_Sigh… _Here we go again – fights. No matter what group I go with, somebody always has to argue. For once – just once – I'd like a day of total peace and cooperation, where we don't have to decide who's in charge. Maybe that's being idealistic, but we need to start finding a common ground to stand upon.

Otherwise, someone will ultimately die, whether it be from a walker or another person shooting someone in the face.

"Would y'all quit your bitching already?!" Kenny yells, already moving closer to the tunnel, "The sooner we get through this, the sooner we get to Wellington. Lilly's… right. This is our only fuckin' choice. Now quit your whining, farm boy, and get your ass inside! If not, hit the road!"

Wow… Kenny actually agreed with Lilly on something. Never thought I'd see the day.

"Should've fuckin' left when I had the chance…" I hear Luke mumble as the rest of them carefully tread into the inky blackness. Thank god it's not quite nighttime yet, so there's a little bit of light coming from the outside. "Do you honestly believe these guys are making the right call, Clem? For the group's safety? 'Cause I sure as hell don't see it."

"Let's just stay together," I whisper, "We need to make sure Sarah doesn't wander off in there."

…

"Jesus, bro! Are there fucking bats in here?!"

"No, Eddie… it was probably a mouse or something."

"Great, that's _so _much better… Can't stand those things…"

"Everybody shut up and stay close – have your guns out just in case."

"Anything else, Commander Lilly?"

"Kenny, I swear to god I'll shove this gun straight up your ass if you don't keep quiet."

"…"

"…"

"…that's kinda gross, dude."

"SHHHH!"

Trying to examine my surroundings is virtually pointless, as I honestly can't see three feet in front of me. Thankfully, Sarah had the bright idea of holding each other's hand so that even if we do manage to get lost, we'll won't be completely alone. Well… at least I think it's Sarah's hand. It's not as if I can see her or anything.

"Y'all alright there, Sarah? Clem?" I hear Luke ask ahead of us. I nod, but stupid me realizes that he can't see my face.

"Yeah! We're fine…"

The next thing I hear is a walker groaning loudly nearby, then another… soon there are a whole bunch of muffled voices bouncing off the tunnel walls, making it impossible to hear anybody else besides Sarah.

"Stick with me… we'll get through this!" I yell, ushering the both of us to move forward. We may not be able to see where the walkers are coming from, but we can certainly hear them.

The roar of bullets go off in the distance, and I instinctually pull out my pistol for protection. "Okay, Sarah," I encourage, linking arms with the scared teenager. Not that I'm not terrified myself. "Let me know if you see any, just like we practiced!"

"You're… you're not giving me the gun, are you?" she asks, the reflection of her glasses being the only source of light that I've seen in the last five minutes.

"We'll keep each other safe."

"Promise?!"

"I promise! Now let's get moving!"

We make a right as we bump into a car, but immediately turn around and go the other direction as a walker snarls at us. I'm not sure if it was stuck or not, but we're certainly not going back to find out. Onward we trek; over rotting corpses that fill our noses with disgusting fumes, and around broken pieces of metal that would be sure to give you an infection if you scraped too hard against it. Sarah screams as another walker groans near in front of us, and I literally take a shot in the dark in the hopes that somehow I managed to bring it down.

Hearing a thud, we both assume that it's safe and keep moving forward.

"Sarah! There's the end of the tunnel! Come on, we're almost there!" I chant, huffing as we run short on oxygen. It's a good thing that Sarah's not claustrophobic as well.

There are some people standing at the far end, but I can't make out who's who at this distance. We run as fast as our little legs can carry us towards the source of light, feeling like marathon runners on the home stretch.

So close, and yet…

"SARAH! WATCH OUT!" I scream as loudly as possible, as a walker stumbles its way right towards her. Only having one bullet left, I decide to spare the ammo and just shove Sarah out of its reach, with the walker thankfully tripping over a dead body and landing its head on a school bus' radio antenna.

The girl tumbles to the ground, out of harm's way…

…but then I feel a sharp numbing pain come from my foot.

Firing my last bullet into a dead body that wasn't quite as dead as I thought it was, I run over to Sarah with a slight limp.

"You okay?" I ask, gritting my teeth together.

"Clem… You saved me," she thanks, nodding her head appreciatively and giving me a quick hug. As much as I'm glad she's alright, we still need to get out of here.

"Let's get to the others – they're probably waiting for us out there."

…

"Thank god you two made it out," Lilly breathes, relieved as by some miracle, everyone seemed to make it out of there alive. "Alright, catch your breath, and then we're heading out. Wellington shouldn't be too far away now."

"We did it… I can't believe we fucking did it…" Eddie remarks, fist pumping Arvo as he does a little victory dance. "If it was still around, I'd totally buy a lottery ticket right now!"

"Those things were such a rip-off," Bonnie comments, shaking her head in amusement. "I'd never actually win anything, and then they'd just dash your hopes up for the next draw."

"Don't kill my mood, alright?"

Everyone except for Kenny and Lilly chuckles slightly; our hopes burning bright for the first time in… well, as long as I can remember. I just hope it's not like Savannah, but if it is, then maybe we can just keep going north until we find something better.

Canada's a pretty nice country, isn't it?

But this itch in my foot, it just won't go away! It stings, too – like I got something stuck inside of it.

"Hey," Kenny says gently, coming over to where I'm sitting, "You alright, darlin'? Things got kind of screwy in there… we were starting to worry if you and Sarah were even gonna make it."

"I'm… okay… urgh! I think I might've banged my foot on something, though."

"Here, lemme take a look," Kenny ushers, rolling up my pant leg and inspecting my foot. "Does it hurt to move around at all?"

"Yeah…" I admit, wincing when he moves my foot too much. "Ow! Okay, I'm fine… I'm good."

"Clem, your foot's bleeding," Sarah informs. It's true – there's a blood stain going straight through my sock, and that sharp pain is getting slightly more intense.

Carefully taking my shoe off, I rest my foot on the ground as blood trickles onto the snow, staining it crimson.

No…. no, no, no, no, no, no….

"Oh my god, Clem…"

"Kenny… please… please don't kill me."

I cry in anguish as I stare at Kenny's shocked expression, as blood comes out of my wound.

I'm bitten.

_AN: One more chapter and then the epilogue, folks! Thanks for reading and reviewing :) _


	20. Hurt

It's an absolute frenzy out here. The second that the news hits Kenny, it spreads throughout the group like a wildfire, with different ideas thrown about as to what they should do to me… as if I'm not even here. They have yet to ask me for what _I _want to do, but I think I know why that is.

They're afraid of what my answer's going to be.

My gaze shifts towards the gun that I had dropped a few feet away from me, but Kenny instantly kicks it away the second my hand reaches outwards.

"Kenny…"

"No!" he snaps, putting the pistol in his pocket. "We can't give up that fast! _You _shouldn't be giving up at all! You literally just told me yourself _not _to kill you!"

"I'm not giving up! I'm… being realistic…"

"I've already lost Duck… and I for DAMN sure ain't losing you too!" Kenny argues, shaking his head like a stubborn child. It's sweet that he cares a lot more than I thought he did, but he needs to face the facts here. I'm bitten, and soon enough I'll turn into the very same thing as my parents were.

This is a cold twist of fate, for sure, but I don't want to burden these people any more than I have to.

"Well, how bad is it?" Eddie asks, biting his fingernail. "Maybe if it's not too deep…"

"Don't be fucking stupid! You know that's not how it works…" Lilly rages, on the verge of tears herself. Gosh, I haven't seen her this upset since her dad died.

Sarah's crying into her shirt sleeve, saying how it's all her fault and that this never should've happened. I'd try reassuring her that it was my choice, but I'm officially freaking out over here. I've never been this scared in my entire life.

Arvo just looks shocked, as does Bonnie who are both standing there with their mouths hanging slightly ajar.

Luke, on the other hand…

He's got one hand resting on his chin, deep in thought. There's a struggle happening within his hazel eyes, and he can't seem to tear his gaze away from the bite mark on my foot. After about thirty seconds of just watching him and listening to the others argue, he finally looks into my eyes, rubbing his hand through his hair like always when he gets stressed out.

"Maybe we should… just… end it…"

"You go near her with a gun," Kenny warns, snarling his words like a venomous snake, "and you die."

"Well what other fucking option is there, Einstein?!" Luke yells, matching his glare with a cold one of his own. "She sure as hell doesn't want to come back as one of them lurkers! And obviously _she _thinks it's the only way out! You're really going to force her to wait?!"

"That's not it…" Kenny murmurs, his hands forming into fists.

"You know what, Kenny? You're a fucking dickhead! You _and _Lilly! Has it even occurred to you, or even registered in your thick fucking brains, that _Clementine_ should be the one to decide? It's her life, for fuck's sakes! You said so yourself, you don't get to make those kinds of decisions!"

"We're trying to SAVE her life, asshole!" Kenny retaliates, confusing me for a second. What does he mean by that? And why is everyone besides Sarah looking at me like something terrible is going to happen? Well, besides me having to die, anyways.

"Lilly?" I ask pitifully, watching her with wide eyes as she crouches down beside me. "What's going on? What is Kenny talking about?"

"Damn this whole thing… fuck… Alright, Clementine?" she asks, trying her best to hold onto her composure but letting off a small contortion of pain. "You trust us, don't you?"

"What are you saying…"

"Kenny, don't even fucking think about it," Luke warns, aiming his machine gun straight at the older man.

"Give it to me right now, kid. This ain't your call."

"It's not yours, either! What's so hard to understand about this?!"

"What are you guys doing?!" I yell; tears stinging my eyes as they all look at me like they're afraid. "Just tell me… please…"

If it was quiet outside before, then it's deathly quiet now. Everyone's staring at me, while I bore my eyes into Kenny and his magnificent beard.

"There's only one thing we can do…" he states somberly, running his hand through his hair. "We have to… cut it off."

…what?

"You can't be serious right now…" Bonnie gasps.

"It's the way it's gotta be!" Kenny argues, although on the outside you can tell he's struggling. "If it means saving Clementine's life, then I'm willing to do whatever it takes."

Darting my eyes around between everyone in horror, I finally stare into Lilly's brown orbs questioningly.

"It's all I can think of, Clem," she states firmly but sadly, "There's no cure for this, and it's now or never. Do you _want_ to live?"

"Jesus, show a little fucking humanity!" Luke yells, clearly not on board with the idea. "You'll just be making this a _shit-load _more painful for her! And how do we even know it'll work?"

"What are we supposed to do for the wound?" Arvo asks, twiddling his thumbs around nervously, "There's going to be a ton of blood that'll just soak through all of the bandages, and the last child-safe painkillers we had were used on Ben… The trauma might be too much…"

"Then we'll give her some jackets to tie around the stump!" Kenny retorts, making a move for Luke's machete. "Time's wastin'! If we're going to do this, it's gotta be right fucking now!"

Luke is quick to push Kenny off of him with the gun and aim it menacingly towards him. "You know, with all the shit you've pulled," he states, reloading the weapon, "this has to be the worst. You just don't give a shit about anyone but yourself anymore, do ya? I mean, even if she does manage to hold on, she'll still freeze her ass off out here! Do you really want her death on your conscience?!"

"I'm trying to save the kid, for crying out loud! You're the one who's so quick to just kill her and be done with it! And I don't give a flying fuck if we all have to sit on top of her to keep her from freezing! We'll do it!"

My body is shaking, whether from the cold or my nerves I'm frankly not sure. All that I know is that I'm literally holding life by the reins at this point, and whatever choice I make is going to have a lasting impact.

Do I really want this? What will my life be like without a foot? I'm not going to be able to defend myself as easily - that much is for certain. What would I use to support myself? Are they going to have to carry me everywhere?

…would I be better off for them dead than alive?

"Clementine…" Sarah sobs, coming over and squeezing my hand while the rest of them fight it out. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… I'm scared, Sarah. I don't know what to do…" I respond honestly, feeling Lilly's fingers clutching my other hand tightly. "I… I don't want to be a bother on you guys…"

"You've never been a bother, Clementine," Lilly reassures, "You're the toughest kid I know, and we won't think anything less of you no matter what choice you make. But it has to be now, understand? This can't wait."

"Okay," I say, a sharp intake of breath going throughout my whole system as I brace myself for what's coming next. "…let's do it."

"…you heard her, farm boy. Give it to me."

Sighing extremely heavily, Luke shudders as he reluctantly hands the blade over to Kenny; glistening as the sun reflects off of its shiny surface.

"If this doesn't work, it's on your head. You better fucking know what you're doing, Kenny," Luke threatens.

"Trust me," Kenny sighs calmly, "I've been through this sort of shit before."

"What do you mean by that?" I ask worriedly, glancing up at the bearded man from Florida.

"…Arvo, get any medicine from your bag that you think might be useful," Kenny orders, ignoring my question completely. "Luke and Lilly, hold her down and make sure she doesn't move too much. I only need to amputate the foot – don't want anything else to get hurt. The rest of you, grab any blankets you've got and get them ready. If we don't have enough, then I'll use my jacket. And get ready to move… because we need to get to Wellington as soon as fucking possible."

Each person knows their duty, as Luke holds my stomach and the upper part of my legs down while Lilly holds my arms. Everyone else disappears from my sight as I lay face-up on the ground – the cold soaking through my jacket and jeans, while my bitten foot freezes as it meets the surface of the snow.

"I won't bullshit ya, Clementine," Kenny whispers as I look up at him, terrified of what's to come. "This is gonna hurt like hell, but I'll go as fast as I can, I promise. Just stay with us, you hear me? You ain't dying; not as long as we can help it. Do you trust us?"

Looking around at all the faces I've met since this all began, new and old, my answer is a definite yes. I'm putting my life in their hands now – in the hands of my family. I'm not afraid to call them that anymore; we've been through so much together.

Nodding solemnly, Kenny for some reason turns to Luke next. "Hey, why don't you ask her what her favourite summer vacation was?"

"Umm, okay…" Luke agrees, not really understanding why that would matter at this moment. "So, umm… what was your favourite – "

"AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I elicit an earth-shattering, ear-splitting scream as an unbelievable pain shoots up my leg, sending pulses of dynamite exploding around my ankle. Instinctually I reel forward; my body convulsing uncontrollably. This is nothing like getting a needle at the doctor's office, that's for sure.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! JUST FUCKING SHOOT MEEEEE!" I swear unintentionally, the pain causing my behaviour to change on a dime. I see the blade as Kenny lifts it up again; soaked with crimson blood as it runs down the handle. _My blood. _

"TAKE THE FUCKING FOOT OFF, KENNY!" Luke yells, and I feel one last sharp pain before my entire world fades into nothingness.

…

…It's… it's really bright in here – I mean, like, too bright. The light's practically blinding me, but I can't seem to be able to move. Where the heck am I, anyway? This certainly feels different from before, even though I'm having trouble remembering what I just came back from.

Wait… who's there? Could it be?!

"Mom… Dad…" I whisper, my voice betraying my inner emotion as I look at their smiling faces. I feel so happy right now! We're all one big, happy family again! And we can stay like this forever!

"Hello, sweet pea," Dad whispers, waving towards me as Mom cries tears out of sheer joy. "God, we've missed you so much."

"Me too," I say honestly, my heart glowing with warmth but my body still unable to move. "I never thought I'd see you again!"

"We're so proud of you, Clementine," Mom beams, holding hands with Dad just like they used to. "You're growing up into a fine young woman. It just makes this that much harder."

"But… aren't I dead?" I question, confused as to how I'm able to see them right now.

"No, sweetheart."

"Then…" I reply, realization coming to me like a slap in the face. The fact that I'm not really seeing my parents just saddens me even more. "…this is all a dream… and you guys aren't really here with me…"

"We're always with you, Clementine. No matter what, we're here in your heart and your memories," Mom replies, blinking away some of the tears. Dad squeezes her hand comfortingly, and I can't help but want to go over there to hug them and never let go.

Would it kill someone to let me move in this dream at least?

"You can do anything you set your mind to, Clem." Dad encourages, nodding his head confidently. "You're strong, you're smart and you're so brave. You can beat this world, we know you can."

"But I need you! You can come with me!" I beg, my voice cracking as they slowly start to fade away. "Please! Don't leave me again…"

"We love you, Clementine," Mom and Dad whisper together – a final farewell if there ever was one.

This isn't fair! I barely got to speak with them, let alone spend time with them! I miss the nights where my Mom used to tuck me in and read me stories before bed, and the days where my Dad would build some wooden project in the backyard and let me be his little helper… I miss the dinners, the birthdays, the hugs and kisses, the unconditional love that all three of us had for each other…

Why can't that just last forever?

"Please… I can't do this without you…"

….

Practically forcing my eyes to open even a little bit, I slowly drift in and out of consciousness; only catching bits and pieces of what people are saying and where we're going.

"…almost there… keep her elevated! …need to keep her… alive…"

The next time I wake up, I think that we must be in a different location than before. And is that… Kenny talking? Or yelling, from the sounds of things?

"LET US IN RIGHT N… BREAK THIS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT DOWN IF I HAVE T…. SHE'LL DIE IF YOU DON'T LET US THROUGH!"

Wait, die? What's he talking about?

…God damn it, this pain is intense! I don't know where it's coming from exactly, since I'm really out of it at this point, but I'm assuming it's coming from somewhere down near my legs.

Excuse me, though, I have to grunt…

"URGHHHH!"

And then I collapse again. I wonder if this is just making it worse, or just basically the same thing as waking up after a nap? I doubt that it's the same thing, but there's really no way of knowing.

…okay, I'm back again. But… I don't feel the strength to fall back asleep now. Weird, right? You'd think I wouldn't have the strength to stay awake, but my body hurts so badly that I can't force myself to do it.

If it weren't for this extraordinary pain, I'd probably tell you about what the inside of Wellington looks like. I'd say how it looks like a massive camping site with loads of tents pitched up, with not very many people moving around while going about their business. I'd describe the smell of fish being fried over the fire, and the magnificent view of the lake in the distance.

But I can't do any of that – not as Kenny and Luke bring me into a tent, set me down on a little cot and demand that someone get some more medical supplies.

Staring at the ceiling, I reflect on the things I've done and the people I've met on my journey over the last two years. Figuring that I'm basically on my deathbed at this point, I let my head roll lazily back and allow my body to go slightly limp.

I hope Sarah won't be too sad without me, and that Luke and Bonnie take good care of her. She deserves much better than the hand she was dealt with. Luke shouldn't miss me too much – after all, we haven't really known each other for very long. Though it did seem like he cared…

Arvo and Eddie should still be here somewhere. Maybe Eddie's showing him how to use a "bong" like he said he used to have… whatever that thing is. I'm still convinced it's a type of drum set.

Kenny… oh boy. This one's a tough nut to crack. We may not have gotten along all the time, and quite frankly I'm certain he'd rather it have been me that died instead of Duck, but we still looked out for each other. I don't think it's possible to grow another eye, but I think Kenny can rock an eye patch. Kind of suits him, in a way.

And then there's Lilly… my only regret is that I didn't get to thank her for everything she did for me. I would've died a _long _time ago if it wasn't for that remarkable woman – with her strong will, survivor skills and refusal to throw in the towel, even in the grimmest of situations. Maybe she already knows how thankful I am.

Well, I said it before and I'll say it again. This is my family, and family's stick together until the end. My only hope is that they'll continue to stick that way until this whole thing is over.

Opening my eyes wide, I go into shock with my body convulsing like you wouldn't believe as Kenny starts to put something onto my leg. Am I turning? Is this how it all ends?

_AN: Sorry that this was kind of short, but I'm not done yet! There's still an epilogue to be seen, and I think you'll find it… fitting. That's all I'll say about it._

_Thank you to everyone who's reviewed! You guys are my lifeline for this story, and it's one of the reasons that I'm able to come up with fresh ideas! So stay tuned, because there's one last chapter to be found. _


	21. Epilogue

_Two weeks later, someone else's POV…_

…I can't feel my fucking fingers. This is total bullshit, and I'm calling you out. Fuck you Mother Nature and all your cold-ass winters! If I wanted to freeze to death, then I would've jumped into the lake and been done with this whole thing…

Food's run out, water's run out, energy's run out. I don't know how the hell I'm still going, but it was a stroke of luck to find that narrow passageway through the trees that someone must've carved out. Who knows what could've happened if I had gone straight through that tunnel?

Am I almost there yet? God, it's been so long since I've actually had a _real _destination for once. Most of the time I've just been scrounging around for supplies, not getting involved with people I don't know and just trying to find someplace… _better_. Better than staying on the road, at least.

And then, back at that gas station, I saw it! A torn-up notice for this big old camp called Wellington! There was no way to tell if it was just total bullshit or not, but who gives a damn? What else have I got to lose at this point?

You know, sometimes I just wish I could just lie down in the snow, stay there until the walkers come, and just get torn to bits. Probably would've been easier than dragging my sorry ass halfway across the country to get here.

But then I realize why I'm still standing here today.

I'm doing this… I keep moving; keep going strong until the day I roll over and die…

…for _her_.

It's a long shot, I know that for a fact. But… I can't shake the feeling that she's still out there somewhere – fighting off impossible odds.

Oh, who am I kidding? The odds of running into her again are like a billion to one. Get your head out of your ass, man.

_Achoo! _

Ugh… I feel like hammered shit, and don't even get me started on what I probably look like. Do I have the flu or something like that? Heh… it'd be pretty ironic if that's what brought me down after all this time. Not walkers or other people trying to kill you. Not starvation or dehydration, or even some damn hypothermia.

Nope, I'll go down from a runny nose.

God damn it, did I go the right way? There's a sign there, I'm sure of it, but it's covered in snow from the snowstorm we had the other day. Man, that was intense! It sure was fortunate that I managed to find that old tent back there. Of course, I had to pull the dead guy out of it, and it ended up smelling just awful, but it kept me alive, and that's all that matters.

Oh, hey there… _That _looks like a winner. A big old campsite with a boat-load of tents up on the hill. Maybe that's my golden ticket to safety.

…or at least a bed. A bed and a couple of books. That's all I really need these days to keep me satisfied.

Just a little bit further man, you've got this… If you could drag your ass to work every day back then while having to deal with all of those grade-grubbers, then you sure as hell can make it to this place. They'd better let me in, though! I'm not taking no for an answer.

Shit… dropped my gun. Better pick it up.

Damn it, wrong hand. I always forget about that – stupid stump.

…..

Well, time to ring the doorbell I guess. Here goes nothing…

"Well? What do you want?" yells somebody with a gun that's obviously more heavy-duty than mine. By the sound of his voice, I'd say he's a country boy.

"What does it look like to you?" I reply, my words dripping with sarcasm. "I've come here to join the fucking circus! Now are you gonna let me in or what?"

"I think it'd be best if you just moved along," responds the younger-looking man with an orange sweater. Who the hell does this guy think he is? And who's his red-haired girlfriend he's got with him?

"Listen man," I relent, obviously noticing that this guy doesn't appreciate my attitude. "I've had a long, miserable past couple of years, and I walked over here from fucking Georgia just to find someplace safe. So forgive me if I'm not in the best mood right now. Now, I'm just gonna open your door and – "

"BACK UP! NOW!" he yells, firing off two machine gun rounds near my feet. Hmph, kid plays hard ball, I'll give him that.

But it takes _two_ for a game of catch.

Pulling my pistol out, I hold it up at head level and match his glare with one of my own. Maybe if I hold this long enough, he'll cave and then they'll have to let me in! I'm not a bad guy, but I'm just sooooooo tired!

"You really want to shoot a crippled man, pretty boy?" I ask knowingly, sensing that this is the type of guy who has morals… like I used to have. "Because you've got a hell of a lot more to lose than I do, I can promise you that!"

At this point, it seems that the reinforcements have arrived, including at least five more of his buddies who have all stepped outside to get rid of their _little pest. _It seems I'm the most popular man in the neighbourhood today.

"Just tell us who you are!" one of his buddies orders. Yeah, as if I'm going to listen to a guy with piercings and possibly the worst-looking beard I've ever seen! Not to mention the hat – what's this guy thinking?

"Why don't you folks let me in and I'll tell you?" I sigh, putting the gun back into my pocket and admitting defeat. I'm outgunned, outnumbered and too bold for this to go smoothly. "Look, I don't mean any trouble. I just feel like shit and don't have anywhere else to go. Now, if you don't mind – "

"Luke? What's going on?"

…if someone's playing a joke on me, then I swear to god I'll come over there and knife you down where you stand.

"Nothin', kiddo," he reassures, making my blood boil as he does. "Just some asshole trying to break into the camp. Go back inside, you should be resting your leg."

Hey, wait just a damn minute! _I'm an asshole? _You're the one who fired on me, you little chicken shit! I swear I've got half a mind to…

To…

"Let me see," the kid ushers, and it's then that I get a good look at who's talking. Small in size, a bloody and torn-up coat, crutches for some reason, and…

…the hat.

Oh my god… it's… my sweet pea…

"…Lee?"

Feeling them buckle and shake, I collapse onto my knees instantly. And I cry, a lot. I cry a fucking river.

I cry because for the first time in two years, I feel genuine happiness.

_AN: And… that's all she wrote. I can't believe it's finally over, but it's been one hell of a ride. _

_I wanna give a special shout-out to my reviewers – you guys don't even know how happy I'd get when I see one of your reviews pop up in my email. It's an unreal feeling to know that you guys have enjoyed this as much as I have. Especially you, Rebloxic! Every single time I updated it seemed that you were right there waiting to say something lol. _

_But seriously, every one of you guys have made this happen – Aqua Destiny, Spiderclone, Kesarkuch, Jay Chammy, Micdonaldboss, Neverlie, iamClem, Walking Dead Fan, Ginger Newt, all the guests, everyone who faved/followed… you've made this a reality! _

_And one last thing… I don't know if I should make a part three or just leave it as it is. What do you guys think? I've got some ideas if I do end up making it, but sometimes I have a problem letting go haha… I think I've got some explaining to do with that ending. Just lemme know in the reviews, or shoot me a message! _

_Stay classy, folks!_

_Leafs nation_


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